Sunny, warm and breezy for Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Monday, April 25, 2011 | 5:03 a.m.

Mostly sunny skies, highs in the mid 80s and breezy conditions will start out the week in the Las Vegas Valley, according to the National Weather Service.

A strong northwest flow over the area will keep windy to very windy conditions over the area, especially in western Inyo County and the high desert of San Bernardino County today and tonight, the weather service said.

Winds in the Las Vegas Valley will gust to around 23 mph today and as high as 38 mph tonight, forecasters said.

A few showers or thunderstorms might be seen over far northern Lincoln County today, forecasters said.

Otherwise, dry weather is expected through Friday, they said.

Cooler temperatures, with highs reaching only the upper 70s, are expected on Tuesday before warming takes place on Wednesday and Thursday, forecasters said.

At 4:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 63 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 56 degrees. The record low was 37 degrees, set in 1960.

Around the valley just before 5 a.m., temperatures were 61 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 58 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 59 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 67 degrees by 9 a.m., to 78 degrees by noon and reach a high of 85 degrees by 5 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 81 degrees and the record high was 96 degrees, set in 1946.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 83 degrees by 6 p.m., to 76 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 71 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Tuesday's morning low will be 61 degrees and Tuesday's high will climb to 78 degrees, they said.