Cool, hot and dry month

RENO - July started out cool, ended up hot and stayed dry, state Climatologist John James said on Tuesday.

''This is the 13th straight month in western Nevada with temperatures above normal,'' James said. ''That's unusual at least. Lots of big air conditioning bills.''

With figures still trickling in from around the state, James said Reno's July average of 72.9 degrees was 1.3 percent above normal and Las Vegas was 1.2 degrees above normal at 92.3 degrees. Elko bucked the trend with an average of 66.1 degrees, 4 degrees below normal.

James said the run of above-average reading in the west was offset by cooler temperatures than usual in the northeast over the same period.

Except for a few widely scattered showers, rainfall was nonexistent last month.

James said the end-of-the month heat was topped by 112 in Las Vegas, followed by 104 in Fernley, 103 in Reno and Hawthorne, 102 in Elko, Minden and Yerington and 101 in Carson City.

''It was even hot above 6,000 feet at Tahoe including 95 at Incline Village and 93 at South Lake Tahoe,'' he said.