From:
The Associated Press, June 2001

May hottest on record in most of Nevada

Reno -- If you thought it was hot in Nevada last month, you're right. Monthly average temperatures in May shattered records on both ends of the state and approached records elsewhere.

May was not only hot, it was dry, too, with precipitation amounts ranging from little to zilch.

In Las Vegas, average mercury levels for the month hit a new high of 82.2 degrees, or 8 degrees above normal, surpassing the previous record of 81.6 degrees in 1997, according to the National Weather Service.

Las Vegas surpassed another temperature mark last month, too, going a record 27 consecutive days when daytime highs reached 90 degrees or higher. That broke the old records of 26 days set in 1937, when official record-keeping began there, the National Weather Service said.

Reno recorded the hottest May in 113 years of record keeping, according to state Climatologist John James.

Daily highs in Reno broke records on five separate days last month, helping to push the average monthly temperature to 66.1 degrees, a full 10 degrees above normal, James said.

The previous record was 64.9 degrees, set in 1992, he said.

In Elko, last month tied as being the warmest May on record, matching the highest average monthly temperature of 58.5 degrees first set in 1928. The small city on the high desert of northeastern Nevada also posted new record daily highs on four days last month, the highest begin 91 degrees on May 24.