Sunny, hot and dry for Las Vegas Valley

By Dave Toplikar

Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011 | 6:26 a.m.

If you like it hot and dry, Las Vegas is your place to be today — a southwest flow of air will result in dry conditions and warm, typical August temperatures across much of the region through the end of the week, according to the National Weather Service.

However, increasing moisture along the lower Colorado River Valley and northwest Arizona will result in a slight chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms over far southern Mohave County through Wednesday, the weather service said.

Today’s high temperatures in the Las Vegas Valley are expected to range from 99 degrees on the west side to around 109 degrees on the east side, forecasters said.

At 5:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 80 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 80 degrees. The record low was 65 degrees, set in 1951.

Around the valley just before 6 a.m., temperatures were 72 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 68 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 100 degrees by noon and reach a high of 106 degrees by 3 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 103 degrees and the record high was 114 degrees, set in 1940.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 105 degrees by 6 p.m., to 97 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 89 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Wednesday's morning low will be 80 degrees and Wednesday's high will climb to 105 degrees, they said.