My fraternal organization Alpha Phi Alpha is convening in Las Vegas for its General Convention so I am seeing a lot of posts from the city. The WNBA All-Star game is also being played there. It is on my television as I write this article. However, the Vegas strip and surrounding areas have been visited by another group, grasshoppers. If you were looking at the National Weather Service – Las Vegas weather radar this week (graphic below), you probably thought that it was showing rain. It was, but some of the echoes were biological targets, mostly grasshoppers. Why are there so many grasshoppers in Vegas right now, and how can a weather radar see them?
Before I answer that question, it is instructive to review a Tweet by the National Weather Service – Las Vegas last evening:
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.
Many news outlets were also reporting about swarms of grasshoppers in and around Las Vegas, Nevada. While many thoughts might run through the minds of residents and visitors, there is a simple weather-related explanation, but you will have to keep reading for the explanation.
Seasonal monsoon moisture, mountains, and an upper-level disturbance produced rainstorms throughout the region. Rainstorms often produce outflow boundaries. Outflow boundaries are defined by the National Weather Service as “A storm-scale or mesoscale boundary separating thunderstorm-cooled air (outflow) from the surrounding air.” Outflow boundaries can last for several hours and cover several miles. They often initiate new storms as the cool, dense air lifts warm, moist air. Outflow boundaries can also lift dust, birds, and bugs along their leading edge. On the evening of July 26th, the National Weather Service-Las Vegas tweeted:
950PM: Outflow winds from earlier storms over Nye County have just entered NW Las Vegas. Wind gusts between 30-40 mph will be likely as these winds move through the valley. Watch for areas of blowing dust and grasshoppers which may limit visibility. #vegasweather #nvwx
The information they (Biodar) collect will support the conservation of insects that are vital to ecosystems such as bees and other pollinators, and will help protect against crop pests. The new project will initially aim to monitor insect populations in the UK, followed by Rwanda, Mali, and South Africa.
This project, funded by Natural Environment Research Council, is a collaboration between the University of Leeds, University of Exeter, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The project will use sophisticated computer algorithms called machine learning to identify and count insect diversity.
Why are there so many grasshoppers around Las Vegas right now? Blame the weather. Las Vegas has received quite a bit of rainfall in recent months. It averages just under 5 inches per year. In about 6 months, the area has surpassed that amount (graphic below). Jeff Laughlin, an entomologist with the Nevada Department of Agriculture, told Lukas Mikelionis in an article on the Fox News website:
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….We’ll have flights about this time of the year, migrations, and they’ll move northward
