Windy weather ushering in cooler weather to Las Vegas this week

By Dave Toplikar (contact)

Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 | 4:31 a.m.

Kevin Janison

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Windy conditions, but temperatures climbing into the 60s, are on the way to Las Vegas today, says Kevin Janison, KSNV-TV meteorologist.

"We can close the book on January. Yesterday’s high of 65 degrees helped vault the month, making January 2012 the seventh warmest January in Las Vegas since weather records have been kept," Janison said.

"Now, as we turn the calendar page, we’ll find the first cool front of the month ready to knock us back … albeit, not that much," he said.

Breezes will pick up this afternoon, with a few gusts reaching to over 20 mph, he said. Those winds will increase Thursday and Friday, with gusts in excess of 30 mph, he said.

"We’ll continue the trend of occasional high cloudiness, and should get one more day (today) closing in on the mid-60s," he said. "However, as we transition toward the weekend, highs will only make … the upper 50s. Poor us."

According to the National Weather Service, this morning’s low at McCarran International Airport was expected to be 45 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 41 degrees. The record low was 17 degrees, set in 1937.

Temperatures at McCarran were to rise today to 53 degrees by 9 a.m., to 63 degrees by noon and reach a high of 67 degrees by 4 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 60 degrees and the record high was 81 degrees, set in 2003.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 62 degrees by 6 p.m., to 53 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 49 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Thursday's morning low will be 44 degrees and Thursday's high will climb to 60 degrees, they said.