No cold wave here: Sunny and warm this week for Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010 | 5:23 a.m.

Put away the coats and mittens and pull out the sunglasses — Las Vegas temperatures are climbing this week into the mid to upper 60s.

While much of the country is shivering from a cold blast, sunny skies and highs in the low 60s are on tap for the Las Vegas area today, according to the National Weather Service.

A ridge of high pressure will be over the region through early next week, sending temperatures about eight degrees above normal in the valleys and 10 degrees above normal in higher elevations, the weather service said.

Forecasters say there is a chance that the area could come within a few degrees of record highs in the 70s early next week, especially on Monday.

Although cloudiness will increase during the middle of the week, dry conditions are expected through the week, they said.

At 4:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 48 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 38 degrees. The record low was 21 degrees, set in 1948.

Around the valley just before 5 a.m., temperatures were 42 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 40 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 40 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 54 degrees by 9 a.m., to 61 degrees by noon and reach a high of 63 degrees by 1 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 59 degrees and the record high was 76 degrees, set in 1938.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 58 degrees by 6 p.m., to 53 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 48 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Wednesday's morning low will be 44 degrees and Wednesday's high will climb to 62 degrees, they said.