Stash the coats again; dry, warmer weather returns

Thursday, Oct. 3, 2002 | 9:58 a.m.

The brief, cold storm that felled trees, kicked up dust and dropped some rain in the Las Vegas Valley helped the area set a new temperature record Wednesday.

The official daytime high of 59 degrees set at 4:28 p.m. is the lowest high temperature ever recorded in Las Vegas during autumn, National Weather Service meteorologist Ron McQueen said.

The new mark was 29 degrees below the normal daytime temperature of 88 degrees in October, McQueen said.

Among the lowest highs ever recorded were 58 degrees on Jan. 21, 1937, and 59 degrees on Feb. 6, 1989, according to Weather Service records.

But the chill isn't going to last.

Today's temperature was expected to reach 75 degrees after lows tin the 40s, McQueen said. By the weekend, daytime temperatures should climb back into the 80s and there is not a drop of rain in sight.

"It looks like we're going into a drier and warmer pattern," McQueen said.

As far as rainfall, the official gauge at McCarran International Airport caught 0.05 of an inch, bringing the total for September and October to 0.98 of an inch.

Many commuters driving over Mountain Pass from Pahrump saw a dusting of snow on Mount Potosi, southwest of Las Vegas, McQueen said.

"These systems are unusual but not unprecedented," he said, noting the storm headed east Wednesday night and will plunge into the Midwest next.

From mid-September to mid-November Southern Nevada weather can change overnight, McQueen said.