Grasshopper Invasion: Storm of Grasshoppers Take Over Las Vegas Strip
OutdoorHub Reporters 07.29.19
A storm rolled through Las Vegas over the weekend, but this wasn’t your typical weather system accompanied by thunder and lighting. The city was swarmed by a grasshopper invasion so large, it looked like an actual storm was approaching on weather radar.
In a tweet on Saturday, The National Weather Service office in Las Vegas said people had been asking about the “widespread radar returns” in the city over the past few nights.
When looking at the radar, CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar said it looked as if two storms had settled over the Vegas area: one just north of the city (which was actual rain) and another over Las Vegas. However, the second “cloud” wasn’t acting like rain typically would, she explained.
🤓 Some of you have been asking about the widespread radar returns the past few nights in #Vegas. Radar analysis suggests most of these echoes are biological targets. This typically includes birds, bats, and bugs, and most likely in our case–> Grasshoppers. 🦗 #VegasWeather pic.twitter.com/reQX7hJR7Y
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) July 27, 2019
Much like the rest of Nevada, Las Vegas experienced nearly twice as much rain in 2019 than normal. According to Click on Detroit, the city has received 4.63 inches of rain to date – considerably more than its usual average of 2.38 inches in the same period.
“It appears through history that when we have a wet winter or spring, these things build up often down below Laughlin and even into Arizona,” Jeff Knight, state entomologist with the Nevada Department of Agriculture, said. “We’ll have flights (of grasshoppers) about this time of the year, migrations, and they’ll move northward.”
Search grasshopper invasion on Twitter, and you’ll be greeted by a collection of videos and images from residents and news outlets showing the biblical-like swarm of grasshoppers taking over the city:
The grasshoppers came out to play overnight! 🦗 Viewers sent in their video of grasshopper swarms from around the Las Vegas Valley Thursday night. Have you seen them in your neighborhood?
WHY grasshoppers are invading the valley: https://t.co/DSSz72ZLwH pic.twitter.com/oJkLdujqNr
— FOX5 Las Vegas (@FOX5Vegas) July 26, 2019
If you don’t mind the cicadas buzzing at volume 12,000 and the 14,000 grasshoppers… it’s a really nice night. #Vegas pic.twitter.com/y7sEbNnet4
— Stephanie Wheatley (@StephNews3LV) July 26, 2019
