LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Scientists meeting here at the Twelfth Annual Conference on Desert Climatology agree that it is only a matter of time until the valley that is known for the famous Las Vegas Strip will become an immense lake.

Dr. Victoria Teu, one of the most highly regarded researchers in the field of desert climatology, told her colleagues here, "One of the fallouts of global warming will be an increase in rainfall in the American southwestern deserts. This is due to increases in both sea surface area and sea surface temperature. The combined effect of these increases will cause the formation of more frequent and larger rain-carrying clouds, which will consequently drop more rain as they pass over the desert."

Most scientists agree that rainfall will increase from about four and half inches per year to nearly 17 inches, while average humidity will jump from an average of 11 percent to over 85 percent.

After a couple of decades, it is expected that the water table will return to where it was in the 1940s, before Las Vegas became "Vegas." Then, according to Teu, "The water table will continue to rise, eventually forming small ponds in the lowest lying areas of the valley. At the current rate of global warming, I expect that a lake will begin to appear in about 2037 and will fill at an average of 430 acre feet per year until it has completely covered what is now the famous Las Vegas Strip. If it is still standing at the time, only the top 65 feet of the Stratosphere Tower will be above water." At that point, the lake, which scientists are already calling Elvis Lake, will begin flowing into the Colorado River near Boulder City.

In related news, Err Travel has learned that foreign investors, under the syndicate name "Las Vegas Lakefront Partners, LLC," have purchased a strip of 1750 acres between the elevations of 2300 and 2400 feet near Turtlehead Mountain.