Hurricanes help dampen Southern Nevada

Thursday, Sept. 5, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.

This week could mark the end of scorching summer temperatures this year in the Las Vegas Valley.

Three weather systems are coming together in the Pacific Ocean that are bringing Southern Nevada cooler weather and a bit of rain today and through the weekend, National Weather Service forecasters said.

"This may be our last day of 2002 above 100 degrees," weather service meteorologist Ron McQueen said. "We're going to cool off for the next few days."

Already this morning 0.05 inches of rain were recorded at the National Weather Service office at Industrial and Blue Diamond roads, and 0.03 inches fell at McCarran International Airport. The forecast calls for a 40 percent chance of more.

High temperatures reached 104 degrees on Wednesday, partly because heavy clouds did not arrive until sunset, McQueen said.

Wednesday night's clouds streamed in from former Hurricane Genevieve, which meandered northwest over the Pacific Ocean during the weekend, he said.

A huge system of low pressure dropping south from the Pacific Northwest helped usher in the clouds and is drawing moisture from the third ingredient, Hurricane Hernan, churning northwest from Mexico.

Hernan's moisture is due to arrive tonight. That could mean up to a half-inch of rain in the valley Friday and Saturday, if the storm stays on track.

As a result the daytime temperatures could drop 15 to 20 degrees, with highs in the 90s to high 80s, forecaster John Adair said late Wednesday.

It was the first rain since July 17, when 0.52 inches dropped. So far this year Las Vegas is 2.66 inches below normal rainfall. An average year would have seen 3.28 inches of rain by now, according to weather service records.

Before July only a tenth of an inch fell since December.

It could be the last moisture for a while, forecasters say. After Saturday weather conditions should continue to be cooler but drier.