Cool weekend ahead for Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Published Saturday, June 12, 2010 | 6:26 a.m.

Updated Saturday, June 12, 2010 | 2:44 p.m.

A cool, cloudy and possibly wet afternoon and evening is ahead for the Las Vegas area.

Isolated showers and thunderstorms are expected across the region today as an unseasonably cool low pressure system circulates over southern Nevada, according to the National Weather Service.

This afternoon's high temperature could reach up to only the low 80s, depending on cloud cover, the weather service said.

The system will gradually move to the northeast on Sunday, then be replaced by high pressure moving over the area Monday and Tuesday, which will bring warmer temperatures, the weather service said.

Another low pressure system is expected to move over the northern Great Basin by the middle of next week, leading to higher southwest winds and slightly lower temperatures, forecasters said.

Around the valley just before 2 p.m., temperatures were 76 degrees at McCarran International Airport, 73 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 77 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 76 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to reach a high today of 81 degrees today, forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 98 degrees and the record high was 112 degrees, set in 1940.

Temperatures are expected to be 80 degrees at 6 p.m., then drop to 77 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 73 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Sunday's morning low will be 68 degrees and Sunday's high will climb to 88 degrees, they said.

At 5:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 68 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 71 degrees. The record low was 52 degrees, set in 1937.