Clear sky, heat in Las Vegas forecast; lake rise nearing 3 feet
Goodbye, monsoon (for now)! Hello, late-August heat!
That sums up the Las Vegas forecast for the final week of the month after a month-long rainy season that drenched the region on a majority of the days.
The National Weather Service forecast for Saturday is sunny with a high near 103, which would be identical to Friday’s zenith. Light morning winds will escalate to 12-17 mph in the afternoon with gusts as strong as 24 mph.
Winds will decline to gusts of 20 mph on Saturday night with a Sunday morning low near 79.
Sunday should see a high near 102 with a sunny sky and winds up to 18 mph.
Warm last week of August
Highs next week will range from 102 to 108, based on the latest weather service forecast.
Harry Reid International Airport reached 100 just five times in the first half of the month, but now as 15 days at 100 per better with a week to go.
“We haven’t been talking much about excessive heat, but we might be next week,” weather service meteorologist Barry Pierce said. “The monsoon appears to be gone for a week, but it could come back.”
Monsoon widespread — mostly
The monsoon season isn’t officially over.
It was a productive so far, with the Spring Mountains getting 5 to 7 inches of rain, 2.5 to 5 inches in Jean and Primm, 1.5 to 3 inches in east Henderson and Boulder City, 2 to 3 inches in Red Rock and Blue Diamond and 2 inches in central parts of the valley.
“Of course, some parts got very little,” Pierce said.
Two national parks west of Las Vegas are recovering from washed out roads after a week of heavy rains.
Death Valley National Park’s main road, California Route 190, was closed Thursday night. To the south, Mojave National Preserve is entirely closed for the second time within a month. The area received up to 7 inches of rain on Thursday.
Lake Mead still up
Lake Mead’s elevation gained about an inch on Friday, rising to a depth of 1,043.62 feet above sea level at 7 p.m. Friday.
The lake has risen 2.91 feet during the past month from its summer low of 1,040.71 feet on July 27. One inch of increase is equal to about 68,000 acre-feet of water, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. Nevada uses less than 300,000 acre-feet per year.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter.
