Wind, maybe rain, possible tonight with cooler temperatures

By Mary Manning

Friday, Oct. 3, 2008 | 3:21 p.m.

A change in the weather is on the way for Las Vegas with winds kicking up tonight for kickoff time on high school football fields and intensifying on Saturday with a chance of rain.

Southwest winds are expected to increase to 15 mph with gusts from 20 to 30 mph throughout tonight, the National Weather Service said.

With clouds covering the valley's sky through the day and into tonight, lows could fall to about 71 degrees Saturday morning. It will stay in the 80s for football fans tonight.

Thursday's high temperature of 94 degrees was 6 degrees above normal -- and last year on Oct. 2 it was 84 degrees -- but nowhere near the record of 100 degrees set in 1980, the weather service said.

The clouds and winds could usher in the first major storm of this fall season, plunging south from the Pacific Northwest and banishing the warmer-than-normal temperatures experienced all through September.

Clark County has issued an air quality advisory for blowing dust on Saturday with winds of 20 to 30 mph possibly gusting to 40 mph in the afternoon, the weather service said. There's a 20 percent chance of a rain shower or thunderstorm in the afternoon as the storm system arrives. High temps will be near 84 degrees.

Saturday night chances for a shower increase to 30 percent overnight with a low of 63 degrees and winds up to 21 mph. It's possible that a dusting of snow may crown Mount Charleston at 11,918 feet, at Alpine heights.

Showers may linger Sunday morning, but clearing begins later in the day with a high in the upper 70s and a low around 61 degrees.

Gradual warming occurs through the first half of the week with a high temperature of 91 degrees possible on Wednesday.