TONIGHT: Overnight lows in the low 50s, clear skies
TOMORROW: Mostly clear skies with highs in the low 70s
LOOKING AHEAD: Temps dip back into the upper 60s but are still 10-12 degrees warmer than normal, staying mostly sunny and dry for the foreseeable future
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It's always an exciting day when you break a record!
Thursday marked our second consecutive day in the 70s, reaching 74 degrees at Harry Reid Airport just after 2 p.m. today. Our previous record high for December 11 was 72, set back in 1939.
We officially hit 73 yesterday—one degree shy of the record for December 10—and we'll be threatening a couple more records to end the work week and start the weekend.
WATCH|Breaking down Thursday's record-breaking daytime high temperature in Las Vegas
Daytime highs are forecast to hit 72 tomorrow (record: 74 in 1958), 70 on Saturday (record: 71 in 2017) and 69 with an outside chance at 70 on Sunday (record: 72 in 1942).
It's still getting decently chilly at night in the 50s, but that's still around 10 degrees above normal for mid-December.
At this point, it sure looks like our all-time warmest December temperature is safe: 78 back on December 2, 1940
If we stay in the 70s on Friday and Saturday that will mark four straight 70 degree days in December, which is pretty remarkable: there were no 70 degree days in December last year and only one in 2023.
In fact, four would be the most 70 degree days in a December since the turn of the century. The most as of now is three, which we saw in 2005 and 2021.
Our record-breaking unseasonably warm conditions are coming at a time when friends and family across the country are dealing with or preparing for extreme weather: an atmospheric river has resulted in more than a foot of rain in places in Washington State and an incoming polar vortex will be blasting parts of the Great Lakes, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southern U.S. with frigid cold temps.
As we look ahead, there's really nothing too exciting weather-wise over the next week or so here in the valley.
Temperatures will dip slightly back into the upper 60s on Sunday and into the work week, but will still be significantly warmer than usual for mid-December during the day, and a little bit closer to normal overnight.
We're staying dry with mostly clear skies (maybe some periods of light cloud cover here and there) over this forecast period, too, so that means whatever weekend plans you might have coming up should be good to go.
