Pahrump enjoyed an unusually cool June, in which the high temperatures on 19 days were below normal, until things finally heated up the last week of the month.

The average high for the month was 90.7 degrees, 4.2 degrees cooler than normal, according to National Weather Service statistics for a 30-year period from 1971 to 2000.

Daily high temperatures were as much as 15 degrees cooler than normal on June 6-7, with a high of 77 degrees. The normal high for those dates is 92 degrees.

The mercury rose only into the 80s in Pahrump from June 9 to 19. The normal highs for that period range from 93 to 97. For most of that 10-day period daily high temperatures were about 10 degrees cooler than normal. On June 12 the high was only 82 degrees instead of the usual 94.

That all changed June 24 when Pahrump got into the triple digits for the first time this year, rising six degrees from the day before to an even 100 degrees. The thermometer hit 107 degrees Monday and 106 Tuesday.

"The upper level pattern in the atmosphere changed. We had a big dip in the jet stream over California," National Weather Service Meteorologist Chris Stachelski said. "That's why we were below normal for the first couple weeks of June."

Terry Staggs, Valley Electric Association power resources manager, in a report to the VEA board last Friday, said up to that point, monthly power sales for June were 14 percent lower due to the weather.

"It's been a beautiful June except for us," Staggs said.