Las Vegas, heat records melt as hot spell nears an end

LAS VEGAS — With potential relief a day or two away, excessive heat will remain with Southern Nevada residents for yet another day Friday.

A high of 117 is forecast by the National Weather Service. The record for July 12 is 114, last reached in 2003.

The day is also expected to be the 10th straight day of 115-degree plus weather, trying a record for the Las Vegas airport most recently reached last July.

And, the day’s heat is likely to boost the average daily temperature (high and low each day) for the month. The first 11 days have an average temperature of 101.2. Last July was the record for Las Vegas at 97.3 for the entire month.

“We could get some outflow winds from northwest Arizona, but that would be around 7 to 10 p.m.,” meteorologist John Adair said. “It’s pretty much a slam dunk that we will reach another record daily high and the 10th day of 110 or more.”

Cooling stations across the region are scheduled to remain open through Friday. The weather service’s excessive heat warning is set to expire at 11 p.m. Friday, but could get extended.

The weather service’s excessive heat warning that has been in place for more than a week is set to expire at 11 p.m. Friday, but could be extended, depending on a finalized forecast for Saturday.

Monsoonal conditions are expected to be a 20 to 30 percent chance on Saturday, Adair said, with the south and southwest portions of the valley most likely to receive afternoon moisture or thunderstorms. Similar conditions are expected Sunday.

Record heat streaks

Despite a cloud cover at about 12,000 feet most of Thursday afternoon, the high reached 118 shortly before 4 p.m., surpassing a daily record of 116 that was set in 1959.

It was the record sixth straight day with a reading of 115 or higher.

Thursday was also the sixth straight day Las Vegas set a new daily high temperature record. The streak started Saturday with a 115 before the all-time record of 120 on Sunday, followed with 115, 119, 118 and 118.

Before the current heat spell, four days had been the record for consecutive days with highs of 115 or more. It was first set nearly 20 years ago, July 16-19, 2005, according to the weather service.

Thursday also marked the ninth straight day of highs of 110 or higher. A streak of 10 days has only happened twice since Las Vegas weather records began in 1937 — June 17-26, 1962, and last year, July 14-23.

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