Warm weekend ahead for Las Vegas running events

By Dave Toplikar

Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010 | 5:59 a.m.

Partly cloudy skies, morning temperatures in the mid 40s and afternoon readings in the 60s will greet the 30,000-plus runners in Las Vegas this weekend.

Those bundled up in Santa suits for this morning's Great Santa Run will find temperatures in the mid 50s by the time the race starts at 9 a.m.

And the thousands participating in Sunday morning's Zappos.com Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon along the Las Vegas Strip will deal with temperatures in the 40s and 50s.

A ridge of high pressure centered over northern Mexico will keep conditions dry over most of the Las Vegas area through Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

But the region does have a chance for wet weather Sunday. A Pacific storm system is expected to move across the area Sunday night through noon Monday, the weather service said.

That storm will bring a chance for valley rain and mountain snow to the region, forecasters said. Significant snow will be possible in the higher elevations of the Sierra Sunday night, they said.

At 5:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 45 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 38 degrees. The record low was 24 degrees, set in 1948.

Around the valley just before 5 a.m., temperatures were 42 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 38 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 43 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 53 degrees by 9 a.m., to 60 degrees by noon and reach a high of 63 degrees by 2 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 59 degrees and the record high was 76 degrees, set in 1939.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 57 degrees by 6 p.m., to 54 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 51 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Sunday's morning low will be 45 degrees and Sunday's high will climb to 64 degrees, they said.