Temperatures dip into the 30s in Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar (contact)

Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009 | 6:49 a.m.

An overnight chill brought temperatures that dropped into the mid 30s again this morning to the Las Vegas Valley.

And a winter storm is moving in Monday that could bring a mix of rain and snow to the area, according to the National Weather Service.

While partly sunny skies and a warm-up into the mid-50s is on the way this afternoon, the National Weather Service's freeze warning was continuing through 9 a.m. today.

A freeze warning means that temperatures below the freezing point of 32 degrees are either occurring or are highly likely and will kill crops and other sensitive vegetation. Pets and delicate plants should be brought indoors and sprinklers should be turned off.

At 4:56 a.m. the temperature was 37 degrees at McCarran International Airport. The normal low at McCarran for today's date is 38 and the record low was 18 degrees, set in 1948. McCarran's temperature had climbed to 38 degrees by 5:56 a.m.

Some areas in the valley were colder. Just before 6 a.m., it was 34 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport, 37 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport and 35 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base.

The weather service said temperatures in the valley will warm up to 47 degrees by 10 a.m., to 52 degrees by noon and reach a high of 57 degrees around 2 p.m. The normal high for today's date is 59 degrees and the record high was 76, set in 1938.

If you're headed out tonight, you'll find the temperature dropping to 46 degrees at 6 p.m., to 43 degrees at 8 p.m., to 40 degrees at 10 p.m. and to 39 degrees at midnight, the weather service said.

Sunday's morning low is expected to be 36 degrees about 7 a.m., forecasters said. Sunday will also have mostly sunny skies with the high climbing to 57 degrees by 2 p.m., they said.

A storm system begins moving into the area on Sunday night, bringing mostly cloudy skies, a low around 37 degrees and south to southwest winds between 8 and 17 mph, gusting to 25 mph, forecasters said.

The weather service is predicting a 60 percent chance of rain Monday, with cloudy skies, a high near 56 degrees and southwest winds between 6 and 23 mph.

The storm is also expected to bring snow to elevations above 4,000 feet Monday afternoon through early Tuesday, producing significant accumulations in the mountains, forecasters said.

Forecasters said there's also the possibility that the western foothills of the Las Vegas Valley could have a brief period of snow Monday evening.

Tuesday's high temperatures will reach only 48 degrees, which is about 12 degrees lower than normal for this time of year, "or simply stated -- BRRR!" forecasters said.

A second storm is moving in Wednesday night that will bring more rain to the region Thursday and Friday, forecasters said.

A low temperature record was tied on Friday at McCarran, the weather service said. Friday's afternoon temperature climbed to only 50 degrees, which was the lowest maximum temperature for that date since 1992.