Warming into 90s today for Las Vegas Valley

By Dave Toplikar

Sunday, April 17, 2011 | 5:38 a.m.

Las Vegas will get a taste of early summer this afternoon — sunny skies and afternoon highs hitting the low 90s are on the way, according to the National Weather Service.

Dry conditions, along with well above normal temperatures will prevail across the area today before a storm drops south into the area late tonight and Monday, the weather service said.

The storm will bring a chance of showers mainly over the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains and the southern Great Basin on Monday, forecasters said.

The main effect locally will be gusty winds, along with cooler temperatures, they said.

At 4:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 64 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 54 degrees. The record low was 40 degrees, set in 1976.

Around the valley just before 5 a.m., temperatures were 63 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 61 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 63 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 73 degrees by 9 a.m., to 86 degrees by noon and reach a high of 93 degrees by 5 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 79 degrees and the record high was 97 degrees, set in 1989.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 88 degrees by 7 p.m., to 82 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 77 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Monday's morning low will be 68 degrees and Monday's high will climb to 86 degrees, they said.