LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The desert is supposed to be hot but an oppressive stretch of heat in Las Vegas has set a new record, and forecasts are flirting with all-time high temperatures with very little relief in sight.
On Wednesday, theNational Weather Service reported that Las Vegas set a new record of 116° for the date, breaking the old June 16 record of 114°.
"Right now, we are under an exceptionally strong ridge of high pressure and this has pushed temperatures to the extremes," said Kate Guillet, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Las Vegas.
“It is normally hot in the desert but the temperatures we're seeing today and tomorrow are going to be approaching all-time record values for Las Vegas and those types of temperatures we don’t see every year,“ added Guillet.
The hottest temperature ever recorded in Las Vegas, officially, is 117°, which has been reached a total of four times, dating back to when records began in 1937.
The official observing site at McCarran reached 116F at 4:23 PM. This breaks the old record of 114F for the date, and is only one degree below the all time record high of 117F, which has occurred four times since records began in 1937. 116F has occurred 17 other times.
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) June 16, 2021
Guillet adds the hot temperatures and duration of heat are also flirting with records.
The maximum number of days at 115° or greater is four in Las Vegas.
Current forecasts for the next few days are flirting with that historic and sizzling record.
There is no immediate relief in the cards of Las Vegas, either.
"When it comes to monsoon moisture, we are not seeing that, at least in the next seven days, and then the outlook for July, August, and September is not showing a strong indicator of being above normal precipitation or below-normal precipitation, as of right now, we'll have to wait and see," added Guillet.
The last two years during the traditional rainy season in Las Vegas have seen below-average precipitation.
The National Weather Service in Las Vegas notes this week kicked off Monsoon Awareness week.
Today's Monsoon Awareness Week topic is often forgotten as dangerous... Extreme Heat.
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) June 13, 2021
🤓♨️🌡️🥵
Did you know that heat is the #1 weather-related killer in the US? Don't become a statistic; stay safe from the desert heat! 🏜️ #Monsoon2k21 pic.twitter.com/MdZgZSLFdi
Dangerous lightning, high winds, flooding rains, and other extreme weather can be possible.
New this season is a more targeted warning system.
"New to the season this year, we’ve now split up Clark County so before if we issued a flash flood warning or a severe thunderstorm warning it would alert the entire county, so if you were in Mesquite you would get alerted for something that was happening in Laughlin,“ explained Guillet.
The targeted warning system will keep unnecessary notifications from being sent in a county that is roughly New Jersey's size.
“We don’t want folks to kind of hear there is a warning out and just assume it’s not for where they’re at, so hopefully focusing on only alerting the areas that are being affected or at least in the vicinity of being affected that will hopefully allow folks to take those warnings a little more seriously," added Guillet.
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