# LAS--Weather Delayed Flights



## Fern Modena (Aug 22, 2012)

We have had thunderstorms and lightning with heavy rain on and off since last night.  Currently flights are being delayed at McCarran due to the possibility of lightning striking another airplane.  

I say another because a Southwest airplane (which was at a gate) was struck by lightning at about 8:30 pm last night.  There were only eight passengers at the time and none was injured.  The plane was taken out of service for inspection by maintenence personnel.

Currently we have had heavy rain for almost three hours, which is very unusual here.  Usually summer rain is "one and done," being done in an hour or less, but not today, evidentally.  Guess I won't be going out to shop.

[edited to add--I know the correct spelling is weather, but my left hand often doesn't spel gud, especially the first couple of fingers]
Fern


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## Luanne (Aug 22, 2012)

Wow!  I usually like to get flights routed through Las Vegas.  I figure there will be less chance of weather issues.  In fact, we're connecting in Las Vegas on a flight a week from Friday.


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## Passepartout (Aug 22, 2012)

We got 1/2 inch of rain here along with (KerBOOM) thunder and lightning yesterday. Almost unheard of in Summer. Luckily it didn't start more fires. We have plenty of those, thank you.

Watch out for those _arroyos_ full of water, Fern.

Jim


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## pedro47 (Aug 22, 2012)

Good afternoon Fern, how is the weather looking today and for the next two (2) weeks ?

How is the weaher the first week in September?  Rain or the usually 100 degrees  dry humilty (smile) ?"


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## ricoba (Aug 22, 2012)

This rain today is GREAT! 

It's steady and it's been going on almost all morning.  Like Fern says, it's unusal for us to heavy steady rain here.  But we need the moisture, so it's a good thing overall, though we do have flash flood warnings in effect.

Last nights thunder and lightening show was a pretty good one.  I hadn't heard about the flight delays or the plane struck by lightening.  Yikes!  

The forecast is for rain today and maybe more tommorrow, but it is supposed to clear up by Friday and through next week it should be sunny and warm again.


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## ricoba (Aug 22, 2012)

Quick update 12:55pm PST - rain is slowing and the sun is peeking through.


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## Fern Modena (Aug 22, 2012)

It should be a little less than 100º by next month.  Probably warmer than the 69º it has gotten to today.  

We have finally hit a lull now, although they say it will be coming back, if not now, then later today.  Henderson has gotten pounded much worse than Las Vegas, although Rick's part of Vegas got it much worse than The Strip (Hey, Rick, don't go to Boulder & Nellis today, It is flooded out!)

The Henderson Police Department just issued an Alert asking all residents to stay indoors today if they could, because there is major flooding at in may areas/at many intersections.

There is a guy down the street with a wooden boat, and he's gathering pairs of dogs, cats, bunnies, ducks, and quail. 

Fern



pedro47 said:


> Good afternoon Fern, how is the weather looking today and for the next two (2) weeks ?
> 
> How is the weaher the first week in September?  Rain or the usually 100 degrees  dry humilty (smile) ?"


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## Fern Modena (Aug 22, 2012)

We have an arroyo near us, and I'm sure it is collecting.  We also have a detention basin near the airport, and I've heard it is also filling.  Our closest park, Reunion, was also built as a detention basin, as were most of the parks in the last 10 years or so.  Our largest area park, Sunset Park, is also a detention basin.  People who haven't lived here very long get very ticked when they see pictures of their local parks under water.  But when it rains that much in a short period of time, the water has to go somewhere.  Would they rather it went into their homes? _ :::Sheesh:::_ The Parks and Rec people take care of the parks as soon as the water subsides.

It has been quiet for 20 minutes already and the sun is almost out.

Fern



Passepartout said:


> We got 1/2 inch of rain here along with (KerBOOM) thunder and lightning yesterday. Almost unheard of in Summer. Luckily it didn't start more fires. We have plenty of those, thank you.
> 
> Watch out for those _arroyos_ full of water, Fern.
> 
> Jim


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## ricoba (Aug 22, 2012)

Fern Modena said:


> We have finally hit a lull now, although they say it will be coming back, if not now, then later today.  Henderson has gotten pounded much worse than Las Vegas, although Rick's part of Vegas got it much worse than The Strip (Hey, Rick, don't go to Boulder & Nellis today, It is flooded out!)



Ha!  I learned that the hard way last year.  If I go out today I head uphill west and not downhill east!  

It's funny about the weather here.  Fern and Karen in Anthem in Henderson have had two good soakings prior to this one I think.  Whereas here in East Las Vegas, this has been our first significant rain.


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## ricoba (Aug 22, 2012)

*3:34 Pm*

....rain is back in full force! 

This really is unusual for Vegas.  Like Fern noted, the rain here usually comes in short heavy bursts and then out pops the sun.  

Kind of almost reminds me of Seattle or Vancouver today!


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## pedro47 (Aug 22, 2012)

To Fern & Ricoba thanks for the blow to blow account of the weather in Vegas today.  It will stop raining and the temp's will be in the low's ninety (90) degrees starting Saturday morning.

The Chief-of-Staff and her sister will be celebrating their 65th Birthday and this is why I am praying for some cool weather in Vegas.


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## ricoba (Aug 22, 2012)

This article from the Las Vegas Sun shows what happens when rain visits the desert.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/aug/22/thunderstorms-bring-flash-flood-watch-warnings-las/


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## Fern Modena (Aug 23, 2012)

That was a pretty thorough story, thanks for posting. Officially it was the third wettest 24-hour period since record keeping began. Last year was a low rain year, only (officially, at McCarran) 2.04". So far today it is over 2.10". Normal for a year is 3.5". That is why it is a desert.

Oh, and Rick, you did see the mention of Nellis near Boulder, right?

Fern


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## pedro47 (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks for the information I truely did not understand how much rain the Vegas area had received..

The newspaper article was an eye opener.


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## Fern Modena (Aug 23, 2012)

Pedro--When it rains here, it rains so hard and fast that our houses were built without rain gutters.  They simply do not do any good, as it rains too much at one time for them to work.  Occasionally I hear of someone from "somewhere else" where "everybody knows you need gutters" who spends useless money and puts them in.  I just laugh and laugh.

We are lucky where we live.  I am about 1000 ft. higher than Rick.  I live at about 3200' above sea level.  Our area got hammered the worst of all the areas in the valley.  But to the luck part, we live in the middle of a hill, so the water just kept rolling off downhill.

Fern


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## AwayWeGo (Aug 23, 2012)

*California Wildfire Smoke.*




Fern Modena said:


> LAS--Weather Delayed Flights


No rain fell during any of our Las Vegas visits, but 1 time when we were there the smoke from wildfires in Southern California reached all the way to The Strip & beyond, reducing visibility from the Stratosphere Tower & delaying flights in & out of LAS. 

The air had not cleared by the time we were scheduled to fly home via American Airlines.  The check-in agent said the plane we were to fly out on was going to be delayed so late that we could not make our connecting flight halfway home.  

The agent checked all the other American flights & connections before giving up & sending us home on USAir -- LAS to Pittsburgh via jet, then Pittsburgh to IAD on (noisy) turboprop commuter plane. 

We got home about 30 minutes earlier than we would have if we'd taken our originally scheduled American Airlines flights. 

Our airline tickets were freebies we got for taking a high-pressure timeshare or travel club sales pitch.  It seemed like a good deal at the time, but the hoops we had to jump through (figuratively speaking) to convert the free airline travel chit into actual reservations with real (electronic) tickets made us decide that next time we'd buy our own airplane tickets with our own money.   

No complaints about the way American Airlines got us home on time on another carrier when their LAS flight operations got disrupted by wildfire smoke that drifted all the way from California.  

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## pedro47 (Aug 26, 2012)

Good afternoon everyone, looks like the weather is returning to normal for Vegas this time of the year.

Dry heat in the 100 degrees range and very little rain projected for the next 10 days.


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## ricoba (Aug 26, 2012)

pedro47 said:


> Good afternoon everyone, looks like the weather is returning to normal for Vegas this time of the year.
> 
> Dry heat in the 100 degrees range and very little rain projected for the next 10 days.



Welcome to the "Sunshine State!"


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## pedro47 (Sep 9, 2012)

We are back from our four (4) nights stay at the five star resort The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino.

The Da Vinci display at the Venetian is a must see; if you are in Vegas for the week.

The weather was not bad for the short stay.

Negative..That  Hilton Vacation Resort resort sign on top of their building.  It can be seen every where and in all directions in the City of Las Vegas.  It is almost an eye sore in my opinion.

Food prices are also up in my opinion.  All in all an outstanding stay in Vegas.


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