Sunny skies expected in Las Vegas Valley; rain possible Monday

Mostly sunny skies are expected to return to the Las Vegas Valley on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

An outside shot at ending the record dry streak in the valley didn’t materialize Saturday. A trace of rain was reported Saturday in the north part of the valley, but nothing at McCarran International Airport where the official record is kept.

Saturday’s high reached 64 degrees, while the low was expected to dip to 49 degrees, the weather service said.

Sunday’s high should reach 65 degrees, followed by a forecast of 61 degrees on Monday, the weather service said. Highs near 60 will hold steady through at least Wednesday in the valley.

The best chance to end the dry streak is likely to come on Monday or Tuesday, when the weather service expects a storm system to bring 20 and 70 percent chances of rain, respectively, meteorologist Barry Pierce said. As of Saturday morning, the valley has gone 114 days without rain.

“Depending on the time of the rainfall, the commutes on Monday and Tuesday could be pretty treacherous after all this time without rain because of the oil buildup on the highways,” Pierce warned Saturday. “If drivers don’t slow down and take it easy during their commutes, we could be seeing a number of crashes.”

Pierce added the storm system moving through the valley is also forecast to “finally bring the first good snowfall of the season” in the Spring Mountains. Kyle Canyon could see upward of 12 inches of snow, while Lee Canyon could experience 12 to 18 inches of snowfall.

“Snowboarders and skiers should be happy about that,” he said. “We should be getting enough to snow to get the rest of the resort opened up.”

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.