Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

National Weather Service predicts drought will weaken or lift in Southern Nevada

Drought

NOAA

The drought in Southern Nevada is likely to lift or improve over the winter months, according to a new prediction from the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center.

The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook released Thursday indicates that through Feb. 29, a massive El Niño will send enough rain to mitigate or eliminate drought conditions in Southern Nevada, California and Utah.

Northern Nevada will continue to experience a drought. Las Vegas has a 50 percent chance to receive greater than average rainfall this winter.

This year’s El Niño, a seasonal warming of water in the Pacific Ocean that causes greater rainfall along the West Coast and droughts in part of southern Mexico and Central America, is expected to be one of the warmest on record. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ocean temperatures are 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit above their seasonal average. Daniel Swain, a climatology expert at Stanford, recently wrote that the 2015-16 El Niño “has some potential to become the strongest on record.”

Las Vegas receives a yearly average of 4.19 inches of rainfall. Since Oct. 1, it has received 1.4 inches of rain.

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