Southern Nevada summer ceases to sizzle

Angela Soo and Ed Koch

Monday, Sept. 10, 2001 | 11 a.m.

Temperatures this week are expected to stay below the century mark, a sign that another long hot summer in Las Vegas has fizzled.

However, the National Weather Service warns that triple-digit temperatures are still possible for the next several weeks, as September traditionally is the fourth hottest month of the year and early October can bring some surprises.

"The last chance we have of seeing triple digits is in the first week of October," Donald Maker, National Weather Service forecaster, said. "After that, the weather should significantly cool down."

Last year high temperatures reached the low 100s during the first week of October, Maker said, noting that the average high temperature for the beginning of October is 89 degrees.

So far, only two days this month have reached 100 degrees -- Sept. 1 and Wednesday, both topping out at 101.

The average daily high temperature for September is 94.7 degrees -- a significant dip from 103.2 in August, 105.9 in July and 100.3 in June, the weather service said.

This week Southern Nevadans are expected to experience temperatures that are several degrees cooler than normal. Sunday's high reached 92 degrees.

Officials are not sure what the cooling temperatures accompanied by higher winds will do to air quality and how it will affect allergy sufferers.

Clark County Air Quality Management officials say that because of a relatively dry monsoon season, the ground could be dry, creating the possibility of dust being kicked up by autumn winds.

"Fall could be like spring, except that nothing blooms in the fall, so we just don't know at this time (what pollen will be kicked up)," said Mike Sword, assistant director of Air Quality Management. "We usually get a spike in sagebrush in October, but pollen counts otherwise remain about the same."

Cooler temperatures in northern states generally result in seasonal residents flocking to their winter homes in Southern Nevada -- usually by car -- adding to the potential for more emissions in the Las Vegas Valley, Sword said.

Although the autumn equinox -- the official first day of fall -- is not until Sept. 22, a number of people who depend on the warmer weather for their livelihood already are saying goodbye to summer.

"We're finished for the season," said Phyllis Skalak, a local swimming instructor for the past 40 years who gives private lessons to children at her home or travels to her students' houses during the spring and summer. "Schedules are so erratic after school starts."

Eric Ontiveros, a lifeguard and manager at the YMCA of Southern Nevada near the Meadows mall, says the neighborhood swimming pool is also deserted.

"When I first started working in June, there would be so many kids coming to swim," Ontiveros said. "Now I'll be lucky just to get three a day. The drop is dramatic."

Although the number of people going to the swimming pools is decreasing, the chances of seeing a neighbor outside of an air-conditioned sanctuary are going up.

Tom Cornwell, a dealer at the Monte Carlo, and about 40 friends were at Pecos Legacy Park in Henderson Sunday for a weekly game of volleyball.

"There's a lot more people coming out here now that the temperature has gotten cooler," Cornwell said. "When it felt like it was 100 degrees at night, there would only be about 20 people."