Sunny and in low 90s today for Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Thursday, May 20, 2010 | 6:09 a.m.

Las Vegas gets another pool-friendly day today, with sunny skies and temperatures climbing into the low 90s.

However, a storm is moving into the Pacific northwest, bringing strong gusty winds and low humidity across much of the region Friday afternoon and evening, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service said a fire weather watch remains in effect from Friday morning through Friday evening for the Las Vegas area.

Friday's temperatures will climb to about 90 and strong southwest winds will develop late Friday morning and continue through Friday evening across much of the Mojave Desert, forecasters said.

Winds will increase to between 20 and 30 mph with gusts likely to be 40 mph or higher by Friday afternoon into Friday evening, they said.

Relative humidity levels will drop to below 15 percent, meaning any outdoor fires could rapidly be spread by gusty winds at elevations below 4,000 feet, forecasters said.

At 5:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 69 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 64 degrees. The record low was 46 degrees, set in 1975, 1949 and 1948.

Around the valley just before 6 a.m., temperatures were 63 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 67 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 67 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 78 degrees by 9 a.m., to 88 degrees by noon and reach a high of 92 degrees by 3 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 89 degrees and the record high was 102 degrees, set in 2005, 1984 and 1954.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 90 degrees by 6 p.m., to 78 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 71 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Friday's morning low will be 61 degrees and Friday's high will climb to 90 degrees, they said.