More hot days ahead for Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Monday, June 28, 2010 | 5:48 a.m.

Load up the ice bucket and head for some shade. A few more hotter-than-normal days are ahead for Las Vegas, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service said high temperatures for the remainder of June will be running around 5 degrees above normal, climbing to 108 both today and Tuesday.

But the high temperatures won't be as hot as they were in late June 1994, when many records were set across the area, forecasters said. Those included three consecutive 115-degree days in Las Vegas and the hottest-ever June temperatures in Death Valley of 128 degrees, forecasters said.

The hot and dry weather is being brought by a high pressure through Tuesday, forecasters said.

Some monsoon moisture might creep into northwest Arizona and the Colorado River Valley on Wednesday, bringing a slight chance of thunderstorms and near-normal temperatures for the weekend, forecasters said.

At 4:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 82 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 76 degrees. The record low was 55 degrees, set in 1941.

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 81 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 94 degrees by 9 a.m., to 103 degrees by noon and reach a high of 108 degrees by 3 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 102 degrees and the record high was 115 degrees, set in 1994.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 107 degrees by 6 p.m., to 99 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 92 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Tuesday's morning low will be 84 degrees and Tuesday's high will climb to 108 degrees, they said.