Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Winter greets Las Vegas with sub-freezing weather

Las Vegas woke up Friday morning to a chilly first day of winter — the third consecutive day of widespread sub-freezing weather.

"I think most places got down to between 25 and 30 degrees," said Andrew Gorelow, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Temperatures dropped to a low of 31 degrees by about 4 a.m. at McCarran International Airport, where a 9 mph south-southwest wind made the wind chill 25 degrees.

The coldest temperature in the valley was 25 degrees at a weather station near the Springs Preserve at Alta Drive and Valley View Boulevard.

Other frigid temperatures included lows of 28 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 28 degrees (19 degrees wind chill) at Henderson Executive Airport and 27 at Nellis Air Force Base.

To the west, lows hit 27 degrees at Mount Charleston and 25 degrees at Red Rock Canyon.

Temperatures had climbed above the 32-degree freezing mark by mid-morning. They were expected to reach a high of 51 degrees by Friday afternoon at McCarran, with sunny skies throughout the valley, Gorelow said.

At least one more round of sub-freezing weather is expected Saturday in the valley before things warm up a bit, Gorelow said.

Saturday's early morning low at McCarran is expected to drop to 34 degrees, but many other areas of the valley will fall into the 20s, he said.

Saturday's skies will be partly sunny, with afternoon temperatures climbing to highs of 50 to 55 degrees on the west side of the valley and 54 to 59 degrees on the east side.

Most of the sub-freezing weather should be out of the valley Sunday morning, Gorelow said. McCarran will have an early morning low of 38 degrees Sunday and only a few areas of the valley could drop below freezing, Gorelow said. Another low pressure system will bring a 50 percent chance of rain, snow and windy conditions Sunday night into Monday, Christmas Eve to the area, he said.

However, to see any snow on Christmas Eve, you'll need to go up to the Mount Charleston area, he said. Chances for wet weather will pass out of the area by Monday afternoon, he said.

Christmas Day will be mostly sunny but chilly with afternoon highs climbing into the upper 40s, he said.

Another weather system could bring rain and snow into the area Wednesday and Thursday.

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