Record highest low temperature for Sept. 9

Friday, Sept. 10, 1999 | 10:54 a.m.

If you awoke early Thursday expecting something unusual for the ninth day of the ninth month of the 99th year of this century, you needed only to walk outside.

That unusual thing you would have experienced was pre-dawn warmth.

The record for the highest minimum temperature for a Sept. 9 was recorded Thursday when the mercury failed to dip below 81 degrees overnight.

The previous high daily low for that date was 80 degrees set in 1994.

"The cloud cover just kept the (previous day's) heat in," said Steve Downs, meteorologist for the National Weather Service at McCarran International Airport.

"The normal high minimum temperature for this time of year is about 68 degrees. It was in the mid-70s this morning so there will be no record today."

It would have been fitting on 9-9-99 for the high temperature for Thursday to have been 99. However, the official thermometer in the shade at the airport topped out at 98 degrees, Downs said.

The forecast for the weekend calls for mostly clear days with chances of afternoon and evening thunderstorms, especially in the mountains to the north, Downs said.

There is a slight chance of evening showers and thunderstorms tonight, with lows ranging from 73 to 83 degrees.

Saturday's forecast calls for partly cloudy skies, with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms near the eastern border. Highs will range from 94 to 104 degrees.

The extended forecast through Tuesday calls for a chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms each day over the mountains. Lows will be 65 to 75. Highs will range from the lower 90s to the low 100s, the weather service said.