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The Weather in Las Vegas
In a few weeks, it will get cool enough for us to use our fireplace during the evenings. We have had some snow flurries every year we've been here. The first year, we actually had about five inches of snow. It lasted about 12 hours in the sun, and almost 36 hours in the shady spots. Parents woke their kids up at 3:00AM so they could build snowmen before it melted. The weather here can be just as fickle as anywhere else. The day we filled our pool for the first time last January, we had the only snow flurries we'd seen all season. If you would like to learn more (quite a bit more) about the weather here, take a look at the NOAA book on the weather in Las Vegas. If you don't need quite so much information, you can see the updated, easy to read summary of weather statistics. here.
There is one facet of the weather in Las Vegas that isn't talked about much. It certainly isn't in any brochures I've seen, and the relocation guides seem to ignore it.
Learn about the wind in Las Vegas.
A friend who has been here much longer than we have, pointed out that the during the summer, the official Las Vegas temperature is always a couple of degrees cooler than the official Phoenix, AZ temperature. He may be right. Something to do with tourism, no doubt. Your car thermometer will almost always read hotter than the official weather in Las Vegas during the summer. Sometimes, much hotter. I once saw my car reading 124 (not a typo) when the radio was saying 117. Of course, I was in heavy traffic at the time, but that is still warm. Perhaps there is some ordinance I'm not aware of against temperatures higher than 117. Looking through the official weather statistics, that is the highest temperature ever reported in Las Vegas. After a time you will acclimate to the heat. The longer I'm here, the more I tend to open the car windows when it's over 100. If I see a convertible with its top down when it's 115 degrees, I know the driver has lived here longer than I have.
As anyone from the east or south can tell you, high humidity, such as 80 or 90 percent makes 85 degrees very uncomfortable. The normal summer humidity in Las Vegas is about 15%. At that level, anything up to about 105 degrees isn't too bad. We had a few days last summer with humidity down below 3%. I was actually chilly getting out of the pool, despite 107 degrees showing on our patio thermometer. Once you get used to it, it's nice. When we went back to New York for a visit in June, and we stuck to everything we touched. Yech!
The weather in Las Vegas can be deceptive. You may not feel all sweaty, but you are losing fluids. You can become dehydrated very quickly, and without realizing it. Drink plenty of fluids (yes, I know you keep hearing that, but it's true), and get inside if you start to get dizzy.
The weather in Las Vegas doesn't include much rain, but when when it does, be careful.
The dry ground takes quite a while before it can start absorbing all that water. In the meantime, it builds up on top and has to go somewhere. If you have ever wondered why so many of the soccer fields around town look like giant bowls, it's to hold some of that water until the ground can soak it up. Many of the streets of Las Vegas are designed to help control flooding. When heavy rains come, these roads can become rivers, with enough force to lift your car and drag right along with them. Intersections tend to flood first. Do not go cruising through a flooded intersection without slowing down and observing the cars in front of you. If you don't slow down, you'll probably make some pedestrians very wet. You may also stall you car, and end up waiting for a tow. Fortunately, we don't get that kind of rain very often. Mostly it's sunshine and clear skies. By the way. All that water isn't wasted. It is channeled through various means into Lake Mead. Stay cool!
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