Heat warning issued for weekend in Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar (contact)

Published Friday, July 17, 2009 | 6:46 a.m.

Updated Friday, July 17, 2009 | 5:31 p.m.

Stock up on the ice. The National Weather Service has extended its excessive heat warning through Sunday for the Las Vegas Valley, expecting potentially dangerous temperatures to top 112 degrees or higher during the hottest parts of the afternoons.

The warning is in effect through 8 p.m. Sunday for areas below 4,000 feet in elevation in the Mojave Desert.

Jim Harrison, a meteorologist at the Las Vegas office of the National Weather Service, said the official high for today was 112 degrees, which was recorded at 4:35 p.m. at McCarran International Airport, where official readings for the city are taken.

Harrison said there were higher readings around the area. For example, he said it hit 113 today at the weather service office near Dean Martin Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road and the high was 113 degrees at the Henderson Executive Airport. The weather service's automated environmental monitoring stations also showed highs of 115 in downtown Las Vegas and 114 at UNLV.

Tonight's low will drop to around 88 degrees at McCarran, Harrison said.

The normal high temperature for today's date is 105 degrees and the record is 116 degrees, set in 2005.

The weather service said the very hot weather across the desert southwest will continue through the weekend with Las Vegas' temperatures expected to hit 113 on Saturday and 112 Sunday.

The forecast calls for highs of 115 to 117 degrees along the Colorado River and Mesquite and Overton, 105 in Kingman, 111 to 112 in Barstow and Twentynine Palms and 124 degrees in Death Valley.

Temperatures will be less hot after the weekend, with highs reaching 110 Monday and 109 Tuesday, the weather service said.

The excessive heat warning is triggered when temperatures are expected to reach 112 or above, which is considered to be dangerous levels that will stress the body if precautions aren't taken.

In 2008, there were 19 heat-related fatalities in Nevada, according to the weather service. On average, extreme heat results in more than twice as many fatalities as any other weather hazard, except for hurricanes, the weather service said.

The weather service recommends drinking plenty of water, staying in an air-conditioned room, staying out of the sun and checking up on relatives and neighbors.