Soggy weather leaves Las Vegas, but cooler temperatures linger

By Jackie Valley

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 | 7:27 a.m.

After several soggy days, the sun and dry weather have returned to the Las Vegas Valley today, but don't expect warm, spring-like temperatures.

Today's high will top out around 62 degrees despite the mostly sunny skies, with light winds between 5 and 8 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

The low will drop to 46 degrees tonight with partly cloudy skies before a mostly sunny Wednesday helps to prop up the mercury to 67 degrees, forecasters said. Wednesday night will bring a 30 percent chance of rain under mostly cloudy skies with a low around 47 degrees. Winds will be about 14 mph, but gusts could reach as high as 20 mph.

The storm system that brought clouds and rain to the region on Monday dropped 0.15 inches of rain at McCarran International Airport, making it the wettest day so far this year, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said more precipitation fell Monday at McCarran, the official climate station for Las Vegas, than in January and February combined.

Elsewhere in the valley Monday, rain amounts ranged from a tenth to a third of an inch, forecasters said. The storm system also brought snow levels as low as 4,000 feet to surrounding mountains.

The record-high temperature on this day in Las Vegas was 91 degrees, set in 2004. On the opposite end of the spectrum, 28 degrees set the low-temperature record on this day in 1948. The average high on today's date is 71.