Floods in Las Vegas?

Question

Are there actually floods in that desert city?

Answer 1

When it rains in the dry desert, the rain does not have time to sink into the parched ground, and it runs off in larger and larger rivulets, until a "flash flood" happens. That's when a "wall of water" can come at you and sweep you and your car away, or push a foot of mud into your living room. The Southwest has been in a drought situation for about 10 years, now, which means that we haven't had our normal amount of rain for a long stretch of time. For Las Vegas, it is suppose to be 4 inches a year. If all 4 inches falls in a matter of a few days or hours, we would have a flood bad enough to wash away homes and buildings like they were toothpicks. It's usually called the "Venturi effect" when it occurs in mechanical devices. The more fluid you push through a smaller and smaller opening, the faster and faster it will flow.

Answer 2

Yes. Even though it's a desert occasionally they get rain. They have monsoon season but sometimes it's wet or dry. Here's a Hazardous Weather Outlook from the National Weather Service in Las Vegas,NV to prove it.


HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
326 AM PDT TUE AUG 28 2007

AZZ002-003-036-CAZ523>527-NVZ016>022-290600-
LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY-NORTHWEST DESERTS-
LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA-WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT-
EASTERN MOJAVE DESERT-MORONGO BASIN-CADIZ BASIN-
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY-UPPER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY-
NORTHEAST CLARK COUNTY-WESTERN CLARK AND SOUTHERN NYE COUNTY-
SHEEP RANGE-SPRING MOUNTAINS-LAS VEGAS VALLEY-
SOUTHERN CLARK COUNTY-
326 AM PDT TUE AUG 28 2007 /326 AM MST TUE AUG 28 2007/

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST
ARIZONA...CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHERN NEVADA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

LINGERING MOISTURE WILL LEAD TO ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE
MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE AREA. THERE WILL BE ENOUGH
MOISTURE TRAPPED UNDER THE HIGH FOR ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER
THE MOUNTAINS DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS WEDNESDAY AND
THURSDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL WARM TO NEAR EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING
CRITERIA BY THE END OF THE WEEK.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT..

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER
SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY HAZARDOUS WEATHER THAT MAY
BE ENCOUNTERED TODAY AND THIS EVENING.