Enjoy the cool air; heat will be back soon

Thursday, April 29, 2004 | 8:49 a.m.

Las Vegas has a brief respite from the heat before more 90-degree daytime temperatures return next week, National Weather Service forecasters said today.

The high today was expected to be 74 degrees after a 94-degree high Wednesday.

A cold mass of air pushed through the Las Vegas Valley Wednesday night, chilling temperatures.

A wall of dust drifting into the valley from central Nevada cloaked skies to the west Wednesday in a brown haze at sunset as a mass of colder air plunged south and east on blustery spring winds.

The highest gust at McCarran International Airport, where official weather records are collected, reached 44 mph at 7:48 p.m., Weather Service forecaster Jerry Jacques said. A similar wind speed was recorded in North Las Vegas as well.

Nellis Air Force Base recorded the highest valley wind speed, 51 mph.

The late spring storm system brought dust along with cooler temperatures.

"There was a lot of dust in the air, a wall of dust from dry lake beds in central Nevada," Weather Service meteorologist Barry Pierce said.

The last wind advisory in a 24-hour period was canceled at midnight, Pierce said.

No flight were delayed at McCarran as a result of the winds, Clark County Aviation Department spokeswoman Debbie Millet said.

Nevada Power Co. crews restored electricity after a power outage at the Fashion Show mall on the Las Vegas Strip and to 150 customers in an area bounded by Sahara Avenue on the north, Highland Drive and Desert Inn Road east of Industrial Road, utility spokeswoman Sonya Headen said.

Nevada Power was investigating the cause of the outage. "We can't rule out weather, but we don't know at this time," Headen said.

Power poles were reported down in the Mesquite area, about 70 miles northeast of Las Vegas, Pierce said.