High winds, wildfire danger continues tonight in Las Vegas Valley

By Dave Toplikar

Published Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009 | 5:56 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009 | 5:47 p.m.

Dusty, hot and dry southwest winds of 40 to 50 mph have been moving into the Las Vegas Valley today, leading the National Weather Service to issue a red flag wildfire warning and a wind advisory through the evening.

The strong winds will reduce visibility, make it hard to drive high-profile vehicles, such as semi tractor-trailers, and create dangerous boating conditions on area lakes, the weather service said. Summerlin and other neighborhoods in the western foothills could see winds gusts overnight close to 60 mph, which could cause property damage, the weather service said.

The red flag warning will be in effect from noon today to 1 a.m. Wednesday and includes almost the entire state of Nevada.

The weather service said its wind advisory is in effect from noon today to 4 a.m. Wednesday for much of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and the Mojave Desert in southeast California.

The strongest winds, gusting over 60 mph, will occur along the east-facing slopes of the southern Sierra and the Spring Mountains and Sheep Range in southern Nevada, just west of the Las Vegas Valley, forecasters said. A wind warning will be in effect for those areas from 9 p.m. until 4 a.m., the weather service said.

Southwest winds gusting between 40 and 50 mph have developed this afternoon with gusts up to 45 mph at Red Rock Canyon and 44 mph at Kyle Canyon, the weather service said. Winds will increase significantly this evening and continue overnight with gusts of more than 60 mph expected in Red Rock Canyon and the lower east-facing slopes of the Spring Mountains, including Summerlin, forecasters said.

Winds in Las Vegas were reached 25 mph, with the highest gusts at McCarran measured at 36 mph today.

The winds are sweeping in as a strong Pacific storm moves across northern California and Nevada today and tonight, the weather service said. The storm will have limited moisture, forecasters said.

The winds are combinging with low afternoon relative humidity values of 15 percent or less, the weather service said. Dry to very vegetation across the area will create erratic fire behavior if any wildfires start, the weather service said.

The humidity levels will gradually climb higher than 15 degrees after 1 a.m. Wednesday, although wind gusts of more than 35 mph will still be likely for much of the night, forecasters said.

Areas of blowing dust will occur and could reduce visibilities near areas such as dry lake beds, the weather service said.

The storm is also blowing in cooler temperatures to the valley, which has had a string of 100-degree afternoons. High temperatures will drop 15 to 20 degrees between today and Wednesday, forecasters said.

Today's temperatures reached a high of 95 degrees at 2:15 p.m. today at McCarran International Airport, forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 89 degrees and the record high is 102, set in 1978. The normal low is 64 degrees and the record low is 51 degrees, set in 1940.

Wednesday's afternoon high will climb to only 78 degrees and Thursday's morning low will be 59 degrees.

Thursday's high will be near 77 degrees, with a north wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Friday's morning low will be around 57 degrees.

Another storm system will drop into the area from British Columbia by Friday night, which could bring some moisture to the area next week, forecasters said.

High temperatures in September

The weather service said Las Vegas' high temperature reached 101 on Monday, making it the 72nd time a triple-digit temperature has occurred for the year -- which is exactly normal for the year.

However, for September, there have been 12 days of triple-digit highs this year, while the normal for September is seven, forecasters said.

Looking at all the seasons officially classified as El Nino years, only September 1951 had a higher number of 100-degree days, the weather service said.