Courtesy
Tuesday, April 23, 2024 | 6:15 p.m.
Mojave Max, Southern Nevada’s desert tortoise and weather prognosticator, came out of his burrow at 3:09 p.m. today to bring the unofficial start of spring in the Las Vegas area.
Mojave Max lives at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve and enters a brumation — similar to hibernation — each winter.
The tortoise’s emergence marks the beginning of spring-like weather in Southern Nevada, officials said. Warmer temperatures, longer daylight hours and his own internal clock are factors known to contribute to his emergence, they said.
You can argue, however, the warm weather over the past week — which sent many of us to turn on our air conditioning — had already begun.
