Valley flirts with record in heat wave

Monday, May 23, 2005 | 11:14 a.m.

RECORD HIGHS

Record high temperatures for May 20 through May 31, and the years the records were set, according to the National Weather Service:

May 20 -- 102, 1984 and 2005.

May 21 -- 104, 1942

May 22 -- 108, 2000

May 23 -- 107, 2000

May 24 -- 105, 2001

May 25 --105, 2001

May 26 -- 109, 1951

May 27 -- 108, 1974

May 28 -- 109, 2003

May 29 -- 108, 1984

May 30 -- 106, 2002

May 31 -- 104, 2002

For the third straight day the Las Vegas Valley simmered in temperatures above 100 degrees on Sunday.

While Sunday's 105-degree high prompted a heat warning, the temperature didn't set a record.

By Sunday the National Weather Service had issued a heat warning as the temperature tipped the thermometer at 105 degrees, three degrees shy of the record 108 degrees recorded in 2000, said Weather Service meteorologist Charlie Schlott.

The warning was in effect from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Sunday for all of the valley. The high of 105 was recorded at 4:08 p.m. Sunday, Schlott said.

The warning was issued especially for those who work outside, the elderly, children and pets, Schlott said.

The weekend temperatures ran 10 degrees to 15 degrees above normal. Average daytime highs in late May typically run 90 degrees or in the lower 90s. The extra heat gripped the Southwest after high pressure clamped down from California to Texas.

A gradual cooling will take place this week, Schlott said. The forecast calls for 99 degrees by Wednesday, "not as hot as Sunday," he said.

After a cool, wet spring, the sudden switch to summer heat caught many homeowners by surprise.

Waiting for air-conditioner repair companies can take from hours to a couple days, homeowners discovered as they cranked their coolers and called swamped repair shops.

For one refrigeration repairman, James "Gunny" Arntz, Sunday was a welcome day off.

Once temperatures broke 100 degrees, Arntz's work day stretched 18 hours a day.

"I haven't had a day off in two weeks," said Arntz, who has been repairing air conditioners and heaters in Las Vegas since the mid 1990s and works for All Temp.

On Friday the temperature had reached 102 degrees, tying the record for the same date set in 1984, the Weather Service said.

For some Southern Nevada residents outside the Las Vegas Valley, the heat produced running streams and a threat of flooding from melting snows. The sudden temperature shift turned lingering snow in the Spring Mountains into running streams and brooks. Normal, dry creeks from Mount Charleston through the rest of the range bubbled over the weekend, Schlott said.

Volunteer firefighters in the Spring Mountains did not report any flooding.

For Bill Nicholes, mayor of Mesquite, city public works crews spent the weekend eyeing the Virgin River that flooded homes and businesses in January in the town about 75 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

The river is expected to crest sometime tonight, Nicholes said.

"At this time, we don't see any cause for alarm," Nicholes said, but city workers are monitoring the river's levels under three bridges in the area.