Warmth beyond beliefs

If you had a hunch it was unseasonably warm this past November, maybe you should try your hand at blackjack, because you'd be right.

It was the warmest November of the past decade in Las Vegas, said Katie LaBelle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas.

The average temperature for November was 60.9 degrees, LaBelle said. The average high temperature during the month was 71.1 degrees, and the average low temperature was 50.4 degrees.

The temperatures were measured at McCarran International Airport.

Those temperatures were considerably higher than average November temperatures dating back to 1935, LaBelle said. Between 1935 and 2007, the average temperature for the month was 53.8 degrees. The average high temperature was 66.4 degrees and the average minimum temperature was 41.3 degrees.

LaBelle said that in seven of the past 10 years, the average November temperatures has been above the 53.8 degree average.

LaBelle said one reason for the higher temperatures could be the urban-heat-island effect in which temperatures rise with the increase in heat-trapping pavement in the Las Vegas Valley.

"The more roads we build, the more blacktop there is to absorb heat and push up the average temperatures," she said.

LaBelle said temperatures are dropping as we approach winter.

"We're getting in more normal temperatures now," she said. "November was a very warm month."