Easter marks Las Vegas’ warmest day yet in 2023

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Easter Sunday marks the first day in 2023 that Las Vegas temperatures cracked 80 F (27 C) as spring weather finally comes into the forecast on the heels of a long, wet winter.

It is the latest in the year that the city first reached 80 since 1982, according to the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office.

Las Vegas just missed the 80 F mark on Saturday when it reached 79 F (26 C), according to the weather service. The last time Sin City cracked 80 F was on Oct. 22 — 169 days ago. That is the fourth longest streak below 80 on record.

Additionally, there is just less than a 50% chance of Las Vegas reaching 90 F (32 C) on Monday. If that happens, it will be just the third time the city’s first 80- and 90-degree days occur consecutively — following 1991 and 2002, per the weather service.

Seven hours north in Reno, Sunday was sunny with a high in the mid-70s.

Unusually cold weather has maintained a grip on Nevada statewide since December, including Las Vegas, which recorded its coldest March since 1991 with an average temperature of 54.4 degrees (12.5 C), which is nearly 6 degrees (3 C) below normal, the weather service said.

Last week, the tail end of another Sierra storm brought 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) of new snow to the mountains above Lake Tahoe and gusts in excess of 100 mph (161 kph) over ridgetops.