Hurricane could help bring temperatures down in valley

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 9:20 a.m.

Las Vegas Valley residents braced for another scorcher today as the thermometer crept toward another record.

Thursday's high of 106 degrees tied the official National Weather Service record set in 1997, Weather Service meteorologist Don Maker said.

The thermometer hit the top hot spot at 4:27 p.m., Maker said.

Much of the Southwest baked on Thursday, with Death Valley, Calif., recording 118 degrees, Laughlin hitting 113 degrees and Bullhead City, Ariz., 116, he said.

"For May temperatures, that's hot," Maker said. "Those temperatures are more like July."

Maker expected the record for May 31 of 104 degrees, set in 1997, to be challenged today. However, clouds were expected to increase late today and tonight, bringing a chance of thunderstorms in the mountains, meteorologist Joe Nemeth said.

Hurricane Alma, churning northward Thursday in the Pacific Ocean, is spreading moisture into Mexico and the Southwestern states, including Nevada, Nemeth said. Alma is this season's first hurricane in North America, although the season doesn't officially begin until Saturday.

An area of low pressure spinning counterclockwise off the coast of Southern California is drawing the hurricane's moisture inland, Nemeth said.

The heat and the humidity will combine for a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon, tonight and Saturday afternoon.

By Sunday temperatures should be in the mid-90s.