Las Vegas to hit 100 today before storm moves in

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 | 5:37 a.m.

Las Vegas will reach 100-degrees this afternoon, then get a break from the triple-digit heat that has baked region since last Thursday .

A strong Pacific storm will move south along the West Coast today and then over the Southern Great Basin through the end of the week, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm will result in locally gusty winds, much cooler temperatures into the weekend and isolated showers and thunderstorms, mainly over the mountains, forecasters said.

Thursday's afternoon temperatures will climb to 97 degrees and Friday's high will be in the upper 80s, which is 15 to 20 degrees cooler than what the temperatures are expected to be today, forecasters said.

Mount Charleston has a chance for rain, with snow at the 10,200-foot elevation, Friday night and Saturday, and a slight chance for snow at the 10,700-foot level Sunday, forecasters said.

The storm will move out of the area by the first of next week, forecasters said.

Just before 5 a.m. today, winds were from the south at 20 mph, gusting to 31 mph at McCarran International Airport. They were expected to be from the south-southwest this afternoon, with gusts around 25 mph.

At 5:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 80 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 71 degrees. The record low was 50 degrees, set in 1950.

Around the valley just before 5 a.m., temperatures were 80 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 82 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 79 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 89 degrees by 9 a.m., to 95 degrees by noon and reach a high of 100 degrees by 4 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 97 degrees and the record high was 111 degrees, set in 1985.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 99 degrees by 6 p.m., to 92 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 86 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Thursday's morning low will be 78 degrees and Thursday's high will climb to 97 degrees, they said.