Showers, thunderstorms possible for Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010 | 6:42 a.m.

If you're heading out today, you might want to dress for wet weather.

The Las Vegas Valley will have mostly cloudy skies today, with a chance of showers and possibly some thunderstorm after 10 a.m. today, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service said a Pacific storm system moving into the area from the west will combine with a disturbance moving down from the north to produce a chance of rain in the valley and snow in area mountains.

Low pressure will then persist across northern Nevada Sunday through Monday, which will lead to possible showers across much of the area, forecasters said.

Temperatures will be below normal into the first part of next week, they said.

At 5:56 a.m., the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 50 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 42 degrees and the record low is 23 degrees, set in 1942.

Around the valley just before 6 a.m., temperatures were 48 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 50 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 48 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures will rise to 54 degrees by 9 a.m., to 59 degrees by noon and top out at 61 degrees around 2 p.m. today, forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 64 degrees and the record high is 79 degrees, set in 1995.

Forecasters said there's a 50 percent chance of rain today, with the best chance during the mid to late afternoon.

If you're heading outdoors tonight, you'll find temperatures falling to 58 degrees at 6 p.m., to 54 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 51 degrees at midnight, forecasters said. The chance for rain is 20 percent tonight and winds are expected to be from 7 to 11 mph, gusting as high as 18 mph, they said.

Sunday's morning low will be 47 degrees and Sunday's afternoon high will be 60 degrees, forecasters said. There's a 20 percent chance of precipitation Sunday and winds will be from the southwest between 9 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph, they said.