Las Vegas may get 30 inches less rain a year than Seattle, but as of late, they don’t hold a candle to us when it comes to dry weather.
That’s because while the heavens have poured forth from Sin City recently, it’s remained completely dry in Seattle for the past 31 days. As in, we haven’t recorded any measurable rainfall since July 22—an entire month.
Contrast that with Vegas, which was pummeled with 1.65 inches of rain in a strong thunderstorm yesterday, bringing the city’s 31-day rainfall total to 2.34 inches. A vast majority of that has fallen over the past two days, thanks to monsoonal moisture pouring into the area from the Gulf of Mexico.
While summertime thunderstorms are not uncommon in Las Vegas, they’re usually of the high-and-dry variety, which is why the city only averages 0.33 inches of rain during August—less than half of what Seattle sees in a typical August.
Of course, with our bone-dry conditions, it hasn’t exactly been a normal August here—by this point in the month, we usually have a half-inch of rain in the bucket. Earlier this week, it looked like we’d finally collect a few drops today, but with the best dynamics of a passing low staying to our north, today too will go down as moisture-free.
Tomorrow will start out cloudy, before sunshine takes hold in the afternoon. High temperatures will remain on the cool side, only topping out around 70 degrees.
Things get brighter for the weekend, as an upper level ridge shoots temperatures into the upper 70s amid sunny skies. After hitting the 90s last week, the warmth won’t be anything too shocking—but it’ll put us back above average for the first time since Monday.
Rain chances increase with the start of the workweek, as another upper low closes in on the region. Despite the downturn in weather, however, we’ll still end up with a much drier August than the normally sun-baked Las Vegas.
As they say in Sin City, you can bet on it.
