Las Vegas temperatures dip into low 20s, but warm weekend forecast

Some of the coldest temperatures of the winter settled in over the Las Vegas Valley early Wednesday.

“There are a lot of 25 and 27 degrees readings in the south and west part of the valley and it’s 33 at McCarran (International Airport),” said National Weather Service meteorologist Clay Morgan at 4:45 a.m. “McCarran had a 32 back on December 17th and that 33 now may go a degree or two colder yet.”

Just before 6 a.m., McCarran dropped to 31.

Henderson Executive Airport was at 25 at 5 a.m. At a high elevation, Red Rock Canyon was at 19.

“The winds are very light and the high cirrus clouds won’t insulate much, so we could fall a bit more,” Morgan said.

Stiff winds leave valley

The winds early this week that caused bitter skin temperatures to feel much colder than the mid-40s pretty much blew out of town overnight.

The high Wednesday will reach the mid-50s with north winds 6-8 mph. The overnight low will be around 37 at McCarran.

Thursday calls for a high in the mid-60s with sunny skies and light winds.

Friday will warm to close to 70 and the weather service is predicting a high of 71 on Saturday.

“That pretty much will be the end of the warmth,” Morgan said. “There are two fronts in the Gulf of Alaska that wse’ve got our eyes on.”

The first one will arrive Sunday or Monday and bring cloudy skies, but the “more interesting second one” is too far out to predict, Morgan said.

The forecast high for Sunday is 63. Monday’s high will be in the mid-50s with cloudy skies.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0217. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter.