109 day ties heat record for May

Thursday, May 29, 2003 | 10:56 a.m.

Although it is only May, record triple-digit heat scorched the Las Vegas Valley and other places in the Southwest Wednesday, tying records for the month.

The 109-degree reading at McCarran International Airport Wednesday tied a record originally set in 1951, according to the National Weather Service.

Weather Service forecaster Jon Adair said the temperatures will stay hotter than usual, with 105 degrees expected today. But some moisture creeping into Southern Nevada from Arizona will raise the humidity for the next couple of days.

So how hot is it? On Wednesday it was 19 degrees above normal and for the rest of this week it will be about 10 to 15 degrees above normal, since the average daytime temp at this time of year is 91 degrees.

The record broke the 108-degree mark for Las Vegas on May 28 set in 2000, meteorologist Brian Fuis said. In fact, six of eight records shattered Wednesday were set in 2000, including cities in Nevada, Arizona and California.

"Record high temperatures are falling like flies across the desert Southwest over the past three days," Fuis said.

In Laughlin, high temperature records have been broken for the past three days, he said. Monday the riverside city hit 109 degrees, breaking the 108 degree record set in 1988. Tuesday the thermometer reached 113 degrees, a nine-degree jump from the 104 record in 1999. And Wednesday's 114 shredded the 108 mark set in 2000.

Air conditioning and bottled water became necessities as the July-like heat fired up across the valley.

Students at Burkholder Middle School in Henderson were bused to Foothill High School's gymnasium on College Drive after Burkholder's air conditioning conked out after 9 a.m. Wednesday. School officials hoped that the coolers would be repaired by today.

Why is it so hot? Forecasters said that a mass of high pressure clamped down on Southern Nevada this week, keeping winds and clouds away.

The high pressure dome is expected to move east today, allowing a weak ridge of low pressure to scoot across Southern Nevada. There's a slight chance of an isolated thunderstorm in the surrounding mountains today, forecasters said.

By Saturday, however, more high pressure should move into the area, keeping the temperatures in the 100s and erasing the clouds, the Weather Service said.

Although the Weather Service can't predict the next three months with certainty, indications from computer models indicate it could be a long, hot summer for Southern Nevada. The 90-day forecast appears dry and hot, especially for Arizona and Southern Nevada.