Increased rain spurs a jump in grasshoppers seen on Las Vegas weather radar

(CNN) —- A wet spring in Las Vegas has spawned hordes of grasshoppers so large, they’re showing up on the weather radar.

In viewing the radar, CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar said it looked like there were two storms over the Vegas area: one north of the city (that was actual rain) and another right over Las Vegas. But the second one wasn’t moving as rain normally would, she said.

“It looked as though it should be torrential downpours in Las Vegas,”

According to Chinchar, by changing the settings on the radar, meteorologists could see that the other “storm” was actually the massive hordes of grasshoppers that have settled over the city in recent days. He went on to say Las Vegas, like all of Nevada, has had almost twice as much rain in 2019 than the normal average.

Jeff Knight, a state Entomologist in Las Vegas says.

“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 (of grasshoppers) about this time of the year, migrations, and they’ll move northward.”

Knight said the swarms aren’t terribly unusual given the amount of rain the state has had this year.

“We have records clear from the ’60s of it happening, and I have seen it … at least four or five times in my 30-plus years,” he said. “There are some special weather conditions that trigger the migration.”