Chapter 2: Environmental Setting

GEOGRAPHY
Las Vegas is in the county of Clark, which is located in the Mojave Desert. Circling the desert are dry rocky mountains with the Spring Mountains to the west.  Within the valley of these mountains is Las Vegas. The elevation of the city of Las Vegas is at 2,001 ft. The area of Las Vegas is mainly land. In total, the whole city is 135.6 sq miles and 131.81 sq miles is land and 0.05 sq miles is water. There is not a whole lot of water in the area. Those that live in Las Vegas usually do not have grass lawns or gardens because of the limited supply of water in the area. Mostly desert plants and wild animals can successfully inhabit themselves within its desert environment.




CLIMATE

Las Vegas is an arid climate. 300 out of 365 days a year there is sun shining in Las Vegas. The hottest months are from June to September. There isn't much humidity. The sun is just dry and very hot! Sunblock is more than necessary when outdoors. With the resorts having such grand pools, you can find many of the tourists lounging or partying poolside.
During the winter months, there is more precipitation. March is apparently the wettest month in Las Vegas and averages 3.6 days of precipitation. Even with rainfall being so rare,  the possibility of flash flooding from precipitation is not impossible because of its location in a desert basin. However, this area is a really dry climate. In the surrounding mountain area, their is snow in the winter. Driving to Las Vegas during the winter nights, you can often see snow flurries before hitting inside of the Las Vegas Valley.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas
http://www.lowcostusa.co.uk/lasvegas/guide/weather
geography.about.com/od/unitedstatesofamerica/a/lasvegasgeography.htm