Cooler weather will follow record highs

Monday, March 22, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

Temperatures in Las Vegas reached record highs over the weekend, hitting 90 degrees on the earliest date since records began, a National Weather Service official said. But cooler weather could be on the way.

Sunday the temperature reached 92 degrees, breaking the old mark of 88 degrees set in 1997, Weather Service meteorologist Jim Harrison said.

Sunday also heralded a new high for the low temperature reading at 62 degrees. The warmest low before that was 59 degrees in 1978, Harrison said.

Saturday's temperatures in Las Vegas also sizzled as the mercury reached 90 degrees, beating the old mark of 88 degrees set on March 20, 1997. The Weather Service officially began keeping records in Las Vegas in 1934.

The temperatures were about 20 degrees above normal, Harrison said.

The heat wave is causing the West to bake under a ridge of high pressure that has settled over the area since early March.

The ridge has kept moisture and clouds at bay and allowed the sun to warm up the air, Harrison said.

But that's about to change.

As early as Tuesday the high pressure ridge will dissolve. That will allow cooler air and some clouds to creep into Southern Nevada.