Las Vegas Weekly

May 19, 2009 · 6:28 PM

Are we boiling yet?

By Jennifer Grafiada

Minus 5 Lounge

Photo: Brain Trust

The infamous season has begun: those long sunny days and warm sultry nights when you get into your car, burn your ass on the metal seatbelt and swear you are going to move from this unforgiving hell while you seek refuge in one air-conditioned space after another.

Minus 5 ice lounge at Mandalay Bay lowers the thermostat even further than your average too-chilly supermarket and movie theater – all the way down to -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Farenheit). Patrons layer on a parka, mittens and booties before entering the frozen lounge, where everything from the bar to the cocktail glasses are carved from ice.

Now, the arctic oasis is offering a package of prizes to the first budding meteorologist (of legal drinking age) who correctly predicts the day when Vegas will reach the near-boiling point of 105 degrees Farenheit. The winner will receive complimentary VIP entry for five people to the Minus 5 Experience, including faux fur parkas and cocktails, dinner for five at Rick Moonen’s RM seafood restaurant and a table with bottle service at MIX Lounge, atop Mandalay Bay Hotel Casino.

To enter the 105º at Minus 5 contest, contestants must email winner@minus5experience.com with their contact information and their calendar guess. All rules and regulations will be available at terms of use on the Minus 5 website. The official weather report that will determine the winner will be monitored by the National Weather Service at Nws.noaa.gov .

“Triple digit heat in Vegas is inescapable,” observes Craig Ling, founder of the Minus 5 Experience. “It is not a matter of if, only a matter of when, and we want to reward the individual who can predict the day it will officially reach 105 degrees.”

Yesterday we topped off at 101, but Thursday is predicted to be back down to an agreeable 79, so the day it reaches Minus 5’s magic number is anybody’s guess. Good luck to all as we suffer through three plus months of scorching aridity in the dusty metropolis we call home. At least you can hang out in an igloo. Gotta love those Vegas extremes.

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