Hurricane Javier could bring rain into Southern Nevada

Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.

As most of the nation tracked hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and now Jeanne toward the United States, Hurricane Javier has been largely ignored.

But it is pushing northwestward in the Pacific Ocean toward Mexico's Baja California peninsula.

The National Weather Service reported Javier packed maximum sustained winds of 110 mph with higher gusts on Thursday.

However, the Pacific hurricane is expected to weaken and unravel today through Saturday.

Clouds and the chance of a thunderstorm is in the Saturday forecast for Las Vegas.

Weather experts have been tracking the storm for at least five days and predicted that it could affect weather in northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States in four or five days.

By Wednesday Javier had sustained winds of 135 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane. The scale runs from 1 to 5 with hurricanes of 3 or higher considered major storms.

Whether Javier affects Southern Nevada's weather depends on where it strikes.

Once Javier makes it to the Baja coast, where ocean waters are 72 degrees Fahrenheit, the storm will fall apart, said climatologist David Mitchell of the Desert Research Institute's Division of Atmospheric Sciences in Reno.

Cooler waters quickly deflate a hurricane's fury and most hurricanes in the Pacific veer northwest over open waters, leaving the Southwestern United States alone.

If the hurricane churned due north into the Gulf of California, it could bring some weather to the Southwest, Mitchell said, because the water's surface temperature in the gulf is 89 degrees to 90 degrees, warm enough to provide fuel for Javier.

A northward trek for Javier would be unusual for this time of year, Mitchell said.