A little more than halfway through the water year, Elko already has exceeded the average amount of precipitation it receives in an entire year and Las Vegas is on the verge of doing the same.
A half-inch (13 millimeters) of rain that fell in Elko on Monday boosted total precipitation for the northeast Nevada city to 9.98 (254 millimeters) inches since Oct. 1. The National Weather Service says the average is 9.91 inches (252 millimeters).
In Las Vegas, an unusual stretch of spring showers has dropped 3.8 inches (96 millimeters) of rain since January. The annual average is 4.19 inches (106 millimeters).
May is typically the driest month in Las Vegas with a monthly average of .12 inches (30 millimeters). But .36 inches (90 millimeters) already has fallen in a little over a week. The weather service says between one-quarter and one-half inch (6 and 13 millimeters) of rain could fall there between Thursday and Sunday.
