Comments (60) | Add a comment
July was Las Vegas' HOTTEST month EVER
-
JOHN LOCHER/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Brian Kerrigan splashes water on his daughter Lyndsay at a fountain in front of Paris Las Vegas on July 2 during the Scottish family's visit to a hot Southern Nevada. » Buy this photo
Tools
More Photos
-
Senior League softball player Chuck Goodman uses a portable fan July 20 at Lorenzi Park. According to the National Weather Service, July was the hottest month ever recorded in Las Vegas, with an average temperature of 96.2 degrees and an average low of 85.7. CRAIG L. MORAN/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL » Buy this photo
-
(click image to expand) MIKE JOHNSON/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Aug. 3, 2010 | 10:16 p.m.
Pat yourselves on your sunburned backs, Las Vegans. You just lived through the hottest month ever.
The high reached triple digits every day in July, and the heat hung on through the night to push last month into record territory.
According to the National Weather Service, July's average temperature of 96.2 degrees was the highest of any month since record keeping began in 1937. The previous record, set in July 2007, was 95.4.
The question is, did anybody really notice?
July is traditionally the hottest month of the year in Las Vegas, and last month didn't stand out much in terms of daytime highs. At McCarran International Airport, the valley's official weather station, the mercury topped out at 113 on July 15 and 18, but neither of those was a record.
As is so often the case in Las Vegas, the difference was made after dark.
The average low temperature for July was 85.7, the highest on record by almost two degrees.
The coolest it got last month was 77. The temperature has not retreated below 80 since July 8.
"That's a record stretch," said Chris Stachelski, a meteorologist for the weather service in Las Vegas.
Another record set last month: For six days -- five of them in a row -- the temperature never dropped below 90.
So the pain was more of an accumulation.
"I just know it was offensive. It was a really, really offensive time to live in Las Vegas," said J.C. Davis, spokesman for the Las Vegas Valley Water District.
Beyond the mercury, though, it was hard to find much to suggest the hottest month ever.
Davis said water use certainly didn't change much. It was up in July by about 2 percent over the previous year, but it's almost impossible to pinpoint the reason for an increase that small.
NV Energy didn't set any records for power demand, either.
"Even though July was the hottest month ever, we were well below our peak (from) July 2007," said Chelsie Campbell, spokeswoman for the utility. "It's not even close."
Contrary to popular belief, record heat does not mean record receipts in the frozen dessert business.
Greg Tiedemann, owner of Luv-It Frozen Custard near downtown, said July was unremarkable, but the summer months often are.
Business is best on more bearable days, he said, "when they're not telling you on the news to stay in because it's dangerous out."
Summer heat is Ryan McDougall's worst enemy and best business partner.
He owns Ice Occasions, a 13-year-old Las Vegas company that sells ice sculptures of every description, from banquet-table animals to oversized Elvises.
McDougall said the cooling system on his refrigerated delivery truck broke twice last month, and the extreme heat reduced the efficiency of his ice-making equipment by roughly one-third.
The same thing happens every summer. "It slows our ice production process a whole bunch," he said.
Of course, without Las Vegas' punishing temperatures, there wouldn't be as much of a market for one of his biggest customers: the Minus 5 Ice Bar at Mandalay Bay.
Everything inside the 1,500-square-foot lounge is made of ice, including the bar and the seats. Customers pay $25 to spend an average of 45 minutes in the 23-degree environment, sipping drinks from glasses sculpted out of frozen spring water flown in from New Zealand.
Noel Bowman, the ice bar's director of operations, said sales during Las Vegas' hottest month ever were "up significantly" over the previous July, especially during the day, when the heat even chased some people inside from the resort's pool area.
"We saw business spike when the temperature spiked," he said.
A second Minus 5 Ice Bar is scheduled to open at the Monte Carlo within the next week or two, which means another 22 tons of business for McDougall's company.
The timing couldn't be better. The weather service is predicting above-average temperatures from now through the beginning of autumn.
Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.
Trending topics:
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
I grew up there, the desert is a hot place. Always was and will be. I remember once the clock/temp sign at the top of the Mint downtown read 105, the time, 12:00 midnight. A few less days without a breeze and you have yourself a story. But, end of the world drama the Al Gore wants....not even close. Nice try Libs, I still think your facts are bass akwards.
This report is brought to you by "Tax The World" an "Al Gore" production. In affiliation with "Yes We Can" industries, the major share holder.
not many of us here in vegas were complaining.......but we heard nothing but moaning and whining from the wimps in the Northeast when it hit 100 there.
Urban heat islands with low albedo and high energy use built in the desert will get very hot. Can't blame this one on anything but new construction and concrete. Time to build underground in LV - everyone stays inside anyway.
I live in southeast Louisiana; enjoy your dry heat (AT LEAST THERE IS VEGETATION HERE).............
With the amount of expansion at McCarran, I'll be willing to wager that the reporting station does not meet the requirements for a legal station.----Beyond that just how often are those straight line clouds over your fair city? Seems like just about every time I watch Pawn Stars, those straight line clouds are there, in the background. Don't try to dumb me down with,the it's water vapor from take offs, theory those evaporate after a few minutes. Do your self a favor and visit weather underground and look for a madis station that has at least three years of stats. one final note I morn the lost of life in South America, during the recent cold snap, and wish the South African people the best on their second try on plants of vegetables after a cold wave wiped out I believe a third, but don't quote me on that.
Seriously, are you all stupid? One of the chief results of climate change is extremes in temperatures, so "hottest month in the history of recorded temperature" is important, and just as important as So Cal having coldest summer ever Worldwide, extremes in temperature are common.
It's hot in Vegas in the summer. Blah blah blah blah. Hottest month on record. Blah blah blah blah. And other places (e.g., San Diego) are having one of the coldest summers on record. Blah blah blah blah. Of course, the only thing that matters is that you be able to twist it into "proof" (not merely incremental evidence) that man-made (why not people made in this egalitarian age? why? because men are ba-a-a-a-d) global warming. To those who complain that those of us who are skeptics really don't know, that's true of you, too. However, WE are not asking to have trillions more dollars siphoned out of our pockets to saddle generations with yet more socialism boondoggles. You are. The onus is on YOU to PROVE IT. Scientifically. Not Climategatively.
From the "City of Las Vegas Office of Sustainability, April 2010", "Temperatures in the city of Las Vegas are expected to be hot, as the city is located in the Mojave Desert with summertime temperatures reaching 100 – 120oF. As the city continues to expand, the natural desert landscape is being replaced with hard or impervious surfaces (highways, streets, parking lots, sidewalks and buildings) that absorb the sun’s rays (heat). The absorbed heat is radiated back into the air causing the air temperature of urban environments to climb even higher and remain hotter for longer periods of time."
"Global" warming.
I have lived in Las Vegas 43 years and I love the heat. I go to Bullhead City in the summer time, I love the heat. I look foward to May because it is starting to get hot. The heat keeps the wimps inside. I love global warming. I love the summer time. July was wonderful. And yes I work outside too. If you don't like the heat, MOVE!!!!!!!!!!