Las Vegas is no stranger to tourists , but lately it has been host visitors of a different kind . Swarms of grasshoppers have submit over big wrapping of the city – so much so that they are being picked up on weather radars .
An influx of grasshopper of such epic proportion is reminiscent of the plague of Egypt . Specifically , the eighth plague , which consist of a different ( albeit related ) winged worm : locusts .
To take this Biblical metaphor even further , experts say the magnet draw these critters to Sin City is a 30 - level resort style as Las Vegas ' answer to the pyramid of ancient Egypt . The building ’s " Luxor Sky Beam " – a whale spotlightThe New York Timesreports can be seen by Los Angeles ' air pilots – is attracting grasshoppers like moths to a flame .
Another account could be the unco pie-eyed weather Las Vegas has been having lately . It is not yet August , but already rainfall has exceeded the city ’s middling yearly quota . This intend sight of green vegetation for the grasshopper to gorge on during their annual migration Union .
The denseness of grasshoppers can be seen at ground spirit level in videos post online , but it can also be see from above – there are so many grasshoppers in Las Vegas right now , it is messing with weather radar . According toCNNmeteorologist Allison Chinchar , one of what search like two storm in the Vegas surface area was made of hopper swarms , not rainwater .
The clue that the " storm " to the city ’s rightfield was n’t what it seemed , says Chinchar , was that it was n’t moving in the agency rainwater ordinarily would .
The grasshopper situation might not make affair especially pleasant for Las Vegas residents right not but the insects are , at most , an irritant . Officials say there is no cause for dismay – they do not stick or bite or transmit disease . They are not harmful , which is sound news show because experts say they may hang around for a few weeks more .
Grasshoppers are not the only dirt ball causing problem for meteorologists of recent . Earlier this yr , swarms of fly ants were pick up on weather radars as pelting .
