Highs to climb into upper 80s for Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 | 6 a.m.

It's a good day to head to the pool -- lots of sun and temperatures soaring into the upper 80s are on tap for Las Vegas today.

Mostly clear skies and temperatures about five degrees above normal are expected through Wednesday across the area, according to the National Weather Service.

A cold front now moving across the Pacific northwest will press slowly southward across Nevada Wednesday into Thursday, resulting in gusty winds, the weather service said.

Behind the front, temperatures will drop to the low 80s on Thursday and then rise to above normal for the weekend, forecasters said.

Then another storm system will cause gusty winds across much of the area early next week, with the possibility of showers in the Southern Great Basin, forecasters said.

At 5:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 63 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 59 degrees. The record low was 40 degrees, set in 1959.

Around the valley just before 6 a.m., temperatures were 60 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 60 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 61 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 73 degrees by 9 a.m., to 81 degrees by noon and reach a high of 88 degrees by 3 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 84 degrees and the record high was 108 degrees, set in 1947.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 87 degrees by 6 p.m., to 81 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 76 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Wednesday's morning low will be 67 degrees and Wednesday's high will climb to 89 degrees, they said.