Rain expected to clear by Sunday’s NASCAR feature

Friday, Feb. 28, 2003 | 10:14 a.m.

Thousands of race fans anticipating the weekend NASCAR events looked out their windows today, undoubtedly concerned about the dark skies and wet streets.

The National Weather Service said race enthusiasts may have to dodge a few raindrops for tonight's World of Outlaws dirt track race and Saturday afternoon's Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series race.

However, ideal conditions are expected for Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"Sunday looks good right now, as we're expecting mostly sunny skies and highs near 60," said Ernie Cobb, spokesman at the National Weather Service office in Las Vegas.

About 0.04 of an inch of rain had fallen by early this morning according to the official measuring device at McCarran International Airport, bringing the early-year rainfall to almost 2 inches.

Through Thursday 1.95 of an inch of rain had fallen on the Las Vegas Valley since Jan. 1, which is 0.69 above normal for this time of year.

Temperatures also are more than 10 degrees below normal for late February. Thursday's high of 53 degrees was 13 degrees below normal for Feb. 27 and 30 degrees below the daily record of 83 set on Feb. 27, 1986. Today's high was expected around 55 degrees.

Cobb said a pool of cold air over the area combined with low troughs pulling in a lot of moisture from the Pacific was causing the bad weather.

Despite the rain, there were few accidents this morning as people headed into work. Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Jim Olschlager said there were only five accidents on local highways by 8 a.m. today, which is about average for the weekday commute.

"People appeared to be driving slower and safer, about 50 mph," he said.

The forecast for Saturday is mostly cloudy skies with a 20 percent chance of rain with highs in the upper 50s and northwest winds of 5 to 15 mph.

Mostly sunny skies with temperatures in the lower 60s were expected for Monday.