100 in March? Las Vegas may hit century mark on 1st day of spring

Get ready, Las Vegas. More heat history will be made today. And it’s not getting any cooler.

There’s a 50 percent chance the valley will hit 100 degrees today, the National Weather Service said. The forecast high today — the first day of spring — is 98. The daytime high record is 90, set in 2004.

Saturday’s forecast is slightly cooler, with a forecast high of 96. There is a 40 percent chance the valley will see 100 on Saturday.

Harry Reid international Airport reached 95 degrees Thursday, breaking the record of 90 set in 2017. On Wednesday, the airport saw 94, surpassing the previous all-time March high of 93 that had been set March 26, 2022.

Las Vegas has never seen 100 in March, or even April. The earliest 100-degree recording took place on May 1, 1947. Even more astounding, the valley rarely sees 90 degrees in March. The average daytime high in mid-March is in the low 70s.

Blazing temperatures associated with a heat dome, a rare event in March, have been breaking records across the Southwest. The desert community of Martinez Lake in southwestern Arizona, reached 110 degrees on Thursday, breaking a record for the highest March temperature ever recorded in the United States.

The blistering wave of heat this week has established record highs in dozens of locations, including Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Southern Nevada is also under an extreme heat warning, which began Wednesday morning and won’t end until 8 p.m. Sunday.

The March heat in Las Vegas is a continuation of a theme, as the month started out with record-breaking heat. And last month was the second-warmest February in the valley since record-keeping began in 1937. January 2026 was the fifth-warmest January on record.

Las Vegas is on track to experience its warmest winter on record, with temperature outlooks forecasting a toasty spring to come, weather scientists say.