Temps to start week in 60s before warmup to low 80s

A cool, breezy start to the week in the Las Vegas Valley will give way to aboveaverage temperatures heading into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

Monday and Tuesday have forecast highs of 63 and 67 degrees, respectively. The average high this time of year is 73.

Winds up to 25 mph are expected both days, the weather service said. Gusty conditions should calm down by Wednesday, when the high temperature is expected to jump to 76.

Sunny skies and dry conditions are likely Thursday and Friday, with highs of 78 and 83, respectively, the weather service said.lows in the high 40s are expected in the early part of the week, but those will rise to the high 50s by Thursday, the weather service said.

LOS ANGELES — Danielle Martinez donned a lab coat, pulled on a pair of latex gloves and adjusted her safety goggles in preparation for one of biology’s little surprises.

“They’re like Christmas packages,” she said of the cantaloupe-sized coyote stomachs before her. “You never know what you’re going to find inside.”

Martinez is part of a team of researchers that for more than a year has been cataloging the astonishingly diverse contents stewing in the bellies of local urban coyotes.

Organs from coyotes that perished across Los Angeles and Orange counties are offering fresh glimpses of a biological mystery: Exactly what fits into the diet of the intelligent, socially organized and highly adaptive scavengers in urban settings?

What percentage of the daily smorgasbord is composed of rodents and garbage compared with, say, household pets?

The answer could help shape effective strategies for managing the species in urban areas.

This scientific study is a coyote postmortem on an unprecedented scale — it has documented the contents of 104 stomachs and intends to examine 300 by the end of the year. The team is generating a wealth of data to better understand how these omnivorous canids sample everything from pocket gophers to hiking boots while managing to survive in a land of 20 million people.

“Cats seem to make up only about 8 percent of a local urban coyote’s diet,” said Martinez, 27, a graduate student at Cal State Fullerton.