The heat is on

Las Vegas has had some of its hottest days of this year in the past couple of weeks. This is part of a trend I've perceived. It seems to be getting hotter overall, getting hot earlier in the year, and remaining hot later in the year. I lived in Vegas for two stretches of several years, early in the 1990s and the mid-2000s. Among my observations:

1. More extreme heat (over 110F) days than ever.

2. Memorial Day used to be roughly the time when the first 100-degree day arrived. Last two years, it's been around mid-Aoril.

3. Labor Day, things used to start to cool off. Last two years, there have been 100-degree days in October.

4  The monsoon season barely exists now.

Bottom line, in my admittedly unscientific observations, I think it's gotten hotter overall in Vegas, just over the last two decades. I'd like to hear from anyone else who lived in Vegas over that period or was a frequent visitor. Have you perceived the same changes I have?

And PLEASE, let's not turn this into some stupid politicized discussion about how global warming is a liberal hoax and it can't possibly be getting hotter and here's a picture of a moron from Oklahoma holding a snowball. I'm not attempting to prove anything. It's just that I was there for the month of May (WSOP), and it seemed a LOT hotter than what I remembered May to be like.

We had a very cool spring in Las Vegas this year.

I've always considered Vegas to be a legitimate retirement consideration.       But between the crazy Summers and looming crisis with Lake Mead I have doubts.  

Luckily, I still have about 15 years to observe   =)

Good topic Kevin Lewis. It's a good way to bring back memories of past trips. Hopefully you weren't just steamig at the poker tables.

My unscientific observation is that it has always been hot when I have come out in May and September. The one time I came out in March it was a too cool and breezy for what I like about a Vegas vacation. The one time I came out in December it rained almost the entire week I was there. I asked a local and she said that the rain was typical for that time of year. I'll take her word for it, but that was alot of rain.

 I like your post. Hopefully it will get a decent amount of responses.

 Funny you led off your last paragraph with a plea not to politicize the topic, yet immediately use the word liberal (D), and moron (R?), in that opening sentence.

Las Vegas in July was a dumb idea.Pizza oven hot.  Easy to walk in the shade when we were downtown,not the strip.Sunburned on my first day. Never again.

Actually,we got used to the heat.The casinos were ccold!Just go outside to warm up.

  I considered moving to Nevada for retirement,but NO houses had basements to keep cool.

Well, AC just answered my question. In today's news, he reported that Vegas had had a larger heat increase since 1970 than any other city in the country. Over 5 degrees--that's HUGE!

I've been in Vegas when a 95-100 day was actually reasonably comfortable but 5-10 degrees above that was just plain brutal. And yeah, we'll see more rain in Vegas (and flooding) as a result of climate change as well.

I've noticed the same thing Dave has, that the A/C environments are often TOO cold. I also have problems with the dry, recycled nature of the air.

People most affected are the ones that are simply not used to this kind of heat.

My father from Hawaii wore a leather jacket on a 70* day.He was cold.

 The dry air also causes issues,too.

Nose bleeds are one.

The casino/hotels with air conditioning is another topic,but I will go there anyway.

Wake up in the morning and my nose feels like it's full of concrete.

I'll hit the sack with a wet towel to affect the humidity in the air that I breathe.

Outside can be too hot and inside the air is too dry and cold.

It depends on what climate that you are used to.

Drink a lot of water! You are in the desert.

I have dry skin and have had possible nosebleed truoble in LV for years. I used to use neosporin (on old Doc;s advise), but found out from an ENT doc that this is bad. You van inhale into your lungs and cause other problems. Just use a saline solution regularly, even at home and you should be good, I use Ayr saline solution or the ayr gel. Plain old saline is fine though, I just like the gel.

Good Luck!

Ric at Joes

I was in Vegas in May and it never got past 80 degrees, first time ever for me, so I guess I will make stuff up and say it snowed in Vegas in July.  I just read my last sentence that it snowed in Vegas in July and I believe everything I read.

It was hotter than 85 degrees for eleven days in May of this year, and those days were dispersed across the month, not bunched together. During six of those days, it was hotter than 90 degrees.

But ya sure, the fact that you didn't experience hot weather during your visit absolutely, definitely means that it didn't get hot at all during the entire month and that it never gets hot in Vegas.