Record low of 55 set Friday, spotty rain will go into evening; 80s arrive soon

It must be something about April 5.

The Friday high at Harry Reid International Airport will go down as 55, the lowest high for the date ever, 3 degrees below the record of 58 set just one year ago.

After 24 hours of gusty winds since late Thursday morning, light rain and graupel have entered the atmosphere. The airport temperature reached 55 and then dropped to 48 shortly as of 6:30 p.m.

“It seems we have reached the high for the day with cloud cover coming in. The rain will be light and spotty into the evening,” National Weather Service meteorologist Morgan Stessman said. “We had reports of some light graupel in Summerlin.”

The only gauge showing rainfall during the afternoon was .04 of an inch at Willow Beach on the Arizona side of Lake Mead, as of 3:45 p.m.

However, two gauges in the northwest showed a spot shower in a limited area during the evening dropped .71 of an inch near Ann Road and 1.26 inches in a gauge on Cheyenne.

Winds began to subside slightly Friday afternoon and were expected to ease more as the front moves overnight into Saturday morning, Stessman said.

The Saturday high should be around 64 and a few degrees warmer on Sunday. Winds will shift to come from the north after the front moves into Arizona.

Come Wednesday, the unseasonably cold conditions will be well past.

“We might see our first 80 on Wednesday and if not, on Thursday,” Stessman said. “We’ll be into the upper 80s by late next week.”

The current forecast calls for 83 on Wednesday and 86 on Thursday.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com.