Warm winter continues, with highs in lower 60s for Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 | 4:37 a.m.

It should be another good day to get outside in Las Vegas — temperatures are soaring into the low 60s again for much of the area, according to the National Weather Service.

Highs are expected to range from around 58 degrees on the west side of the valley to around 64 degrees on the east side, the weather service said.

A series of upper-level disturbances passing across the Great Basin this week will bring periods of clouds, but little or no chance of rain, forecasters said.

Gusty north winds can also be expected Thursday through Friday, especially down the Colorado River Valley, they said.

Temperatures will remain close to normal for much of the week, with a warming trend possible for next weekend, they said.

Meanwhile, forecasters say this month appears to be on track to rank as one of the 10 warmest Januaries on record for Las Vegas. Through Sunday, the average high was 50.5 degrees.

Based on projected numbers for today and Tuesday, this should be close to where we wind up for the month for average temperatures, which would rank this month the seventh warmest on record, forecasters said.

This is expected to be only the fifth January since records started being kept in 1937 that the official low temperature for the month didn't drop to the freezing mark of 32 degrees or below, they said.

This morning’s low at McCarran International Airport was expected to be 41 degrees, which is the normal low for today's date. The record low was 18 degrees, set in 1949.

Temperatures at McCarran were to rise today to 48 degrees by 9 a.m., to 59 degrees by noon and reach a high of 63 degrees by 2 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 60 degrees and the record high was 72 degrees, set in 1971.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 58 degrees by 6 p.m., to 50 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 45 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Tuesday's morning low will be 40 degrees and Tuesday's high will climb to 63 degrees, they said.