Monday, July 18, 2005 | 11:01 a.m.
It looks like the long hot summer of 2005 may extend through September in Southern Nevada.
Meteorologists at the National Climate Data Center in Ashville, N.C., said typical Southwest monsoonal moisture may not offer a cooling afternoon shower or deliver much relief from scorching heat in Southern Nevada this year.
Over the years the Southwest monsoon tends to be weak after a heavy snowpack in the Rocky Mountains, forecasters at the center said on their Web site Sunday. In addition, a dome of high pressure has parked itself over Southern Nevada over the past week, deflecting any attempt by moisture creeping north from Mexico to reach the Las Vegas Valley.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas broke heat and electricity use records Sunday, and the blast furnace weather wore out air conditioners around the valley.
Las Vegas' official Sunday temperature of 116 degrees melted the record for July 17 set at 115 degrees in 1959, National Weather Service meteorologist Charlie Schlott said.
That temperature is one degree short of the all-time record of 117 degrees set on July 24, 1942, recorded at what is now Nellis Air Force Base, where Las Vegas' official weather records began. The official temperature is now recorded at McCarran.
McCarran International Airport spokeswoman Elaine Sanchez said blown fuses caused the air conditioners in the main terminal and the adjacent C and D gates to be out for about three hours Sunday.
"During the time without air-conditioning, we served water to passengers and tried to make them as comfortable as possible," Sanchez said.
Also, although there were no major heat-related delays in flights, there was a physics problem that had to be addressed, which apparently caused some minor delays, Sanchez said.
In extreme heat, pilots, before taking off, must calculate a math equation that relates to the weight aboard the aircraft and make adjustments, Sanchez said.
"Heat affects how fast the engine operates," she said, noting that extreme heat causes more intense pressure on the engine and that could affect whether the fuel burns efficiently. As a result, passengers or luggage have to be unloaded to compensate for the situation, she said.
"We usually have to do this in August, but this year we are doing it earlier because of the extreme heat," Sanchez said, noting that she could not confirm how many planes had to make that adjustment Sunday because detailed records are not kept for minor delays, just major ones.
When such a situation has existed in the past, Sanchez said passengers have sometimes been asked if they wanted to wait until a later flight.
Nevada Power spokeswoman Andrea Smith said there were about 300 heat-related outages affecting an undetermined number of customers from a few seconds to a few hours Sunday -- most commonly from transformers overheating.
"Small pockets of residential areas were most affected," Smith said, noting the most significant of them was 500 customers from Washington Avenue to Pecos Road to Lamb Boulevard who were without power for four hours.
Also, Smith said, for the fourth time in six days the peak load record was broken. On Sunday, the 5,458 megawatts used broke the record of 5,410 megawatts set last Thursday. Last year at this time, 4,969 megawatts was the peak load, she said.
"We're preparing for another peak load record to possibly be set today," she said this morning.
The Weather Service extended the excessive heat warning for Las Vegas through Tuesday, meaning daytime temperatures will sizzle above 112 degrees at least through the next two-day period.
"We have no indications of moisture," Schlott said of the lack of rain in the Las Vegas Valley, which baked in its sixth day of temps at 110 degrees or above on Sunday.
Sunday's low temperature of 93 degrees also set an all-time record for the highest low ever recorded in the valley, Schlott said.
The previous record of 92 degrees was recorded on July 14, 2002, July 22, 2003, and July 23, 2003, Schlott said.
Death Valley continued baking at 128 degrees, Schlott said.
There were no confirmed heat-related deaths over the weekend, the Clark County Coroner's office said today.
However, an autopsy was being conducted this morning on a man who was found dead in a parking lot earlier today. The coroner's office would not release exact location where the body was found. His identity was not released pending notification of relatives.
Nor would the coroner's office speculate on whether heat contributed to his death. The fact he was found outdoors has investigators looking into that possibility, officials said, noting that all other outdoor deaths over the weekend have been attributed to other non-heat factors, such as auto crashes.
The current heat wave may have attributed to at least one death. Terry Lee Walker, 44, address unknown, was found dead Wednesday on the ground near East Charleston Boulevard and Eastern Avenue.
The coroner's office says it is awaiting toxicology tests, which could take a couple of weeks to return from a lab, before settling on exactly what killed Walker.
Last year, 14 deaths were attributed to the heat, while so far this year, five heat-related deaths have been recorded, all before last week, the coroner's office said.
Meanwhile, people are struggling to find ways to beat the heat. Jody Ziemkowski at the Bonnie Springs Motel said Sunday that animals might be helpful in teaching people ways to do that.
Chickens, ducks, a pair of swans, peacocks, wolves, pot-bellied pigs and lynx all hunkered down in the heat at the Bonnie Springs Ranch petting zoo. The animals stay cool with extra shade, misters, fans, fountains and plenty of drinking water as the thermometer registered 109 degrees at the ranch, 15 miles west of Las Vegas at the base of the Spring Mountains.
"It hasn't been too busy here today," Ziemkowski said. Even horses near the Old West village were ready for riders and were in good shape, she said.
But there was no relief from the heat in Las Vegas.
If that cold shower seemed warm over the weekend, it's because Lake Mead's water temperature registered 84 degrees and didn't lose much warmth in its miles-long trip by pipeline from the lake to valley taps.
By Thursday the dome of high pressure putting a lid on air movement over the valley may get nudged east, Weather Service meteorologists Jim Harrison and Andy Gorelow said. While high temps will remain hot, they could be three to five degrees lower by next weekend.
The forecasters are also eyeing Emily, the hurricane heading for the Yucatan Peninsula and central Mexico. The hurricane is expected to arrive early Wednesday morning south of Brownsville, Texas, Schlott said.
The remnants of the hurricane could cross Mexico and contribute to the Southwest's moisture, Schlott said.
But if Emily changes course, the bulk of the moisture could stay in Mexico or veer into Texas.
"It's a long way off yet," Schlott said of the hurricane. "We're keeping an eye on it."
Unfortunately, thunderstorms that form when conditions are as dry as they are in Southern Nevada and in the rest of the Southwest tend to pack little rain.
Instead, dry lightning has been known to spark wildfires, similar to those that scorched more than 700,000 acres of dry grasses and brush in Southern Nevada in late June. 10
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