Las Vegas passes average annual rainfall

A storm that swept through Las Vegas on Thursday set a record for the date and gave the region an early push past the average amount of rainfall for a year.

National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Gorelow said Friday steady rain and thunderstorms overnight raised the rainfall total past 4.5 inches (11.4 millimeters) since Jan. 1.

Las Vegas usually averages just less than 4.2 inches (10.7 centimeters) of rain in a year, according to records kept since 1938 at the official measuring station at McCarran International Airport.

The wettest year on record was 1941, when the region tallied 10.72 inches (27.2 centimeters) of rain.

Gorelow says the 0.45 inches (11.4 millimeters) of rainfall on Thursday tripled the previous record of 0.15 inches (3.8 millimeters) set on May 9, 1977.