Published Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 | 11:11 a.m.
Updated Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 | 2:36 p.m.
An unstable air mass could usher in a soggy weekend in the Las Vegas Valley.
The National Weather Service said Southern Nevada has a 50 percent chance of picking up heavy rain today. A flash flood watch is in effect from 1 p.m. through 11 p.m. tonight.
"Increasing moisture combined with a very unstable airmass will result in conditions favoring heavy rainfall and localized flash flooding," the weather service said in a statement this morning.
The flash flood watch is in effect for the Las Vegas Valley, Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Lincoln County in Nevada, as well as parts of Utah, Nevada and California.
A flash flood watch means that thunderstorms could produce rainfall that leads to flash flooding. Scattered thunderstorms are expected to produce locally heavy rains in some areas, forecasters said.
The heaviest rain in the region today has stayed well east of the Las Vegas area. More than one-and-a-half inches of rain had fallen in parts of northwest Arizona in an hour, prompting forecasters to issue a flash flood warning in that area.
Lighter rain was moving into western Clark County this afternoon.
The high temperature today is expected to reach 98 degrees in Las Vegas. That would make today only the third day of August to fall short of the triple-digit mark.
Heavy rain is possible again tonight, then Sunday's high is expected to reach 96 degrees.
Weather service records indicate the average high on today's date at McCarran International Airport is 99 degrees.
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