Wildfire warning, wind advisory issued for Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Thursday, June 10, 2010 | 5:34 a.m.

Temperatures in the upper 90s and dry strong and gusty winds are expected today in Las Vegas, prompting the National Weather Service to put out a wind advisory and a wildfire warning.

The red flag wildfire warning is in effect from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, the weather service said.

Gusty southwest to west winds reaching over 35 mph will continue through much of the day before decreasing overnight, forecasters said. The wind will combine with minimum relative humidity values this afternoon of less than 15 percent and will create hazardous fire conditions, forecasters said.

The weather service has also posted a wind advisory from 11 a.m. today to 2 a.m. Friday in an area that includes Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Summerlin, Nellis, Mountains Edge, Seven Hills, Blue Diamond, Mount Charleston and the Spring Mountains.

The Las Vegas Valley could experience gusts up to 45 mph at times, but most of the gusts will be along the west and southwest sides of the valley, they said.

Southwest winds of 20 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 45 mph are expected, with some gusts up to 60 mph near ridge tops in the White Mountains, forecasters said.

The winds will be strongest between 4 p.m. and midnight in southern Nevada, they said. Drivers, especially those with high-profile vehicles, will experience difficulty because of strong and gusty crosswinds and possibly lowered visibilities due to blowing dust, forecasters said.

Winds were gusting at McCarran International Airport just before 5 a.m. today at 28 mph.

On Wednesday, McCarran recorded a high temperatures of 101 degrees at 2:54 p.m., making it the seventh day in a row of triple digit heat for the Las Vegas area.

However, cooler temperatures, are moving in today as a Pacific storm travels south along the West Coast into the Las Vegas area. Afternoon temperatures will reach only the upper 90s today, then climb to only the 80s on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, forecasters said.

Isolated showers and thunderstorms are expected mainly over the mountains Friday and Saturday, they said. Mount Charleston could get up to a half inch of snow by Saturday, they said.

At 4:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran was 75 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 71 degrees. The record low was 51 degrees, set in 1954.

Around the valley just before 5 a.m., temperatures were 75 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 78 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 72 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 84 degrees by 9 a.m., to 92 degrees by noon and reach a high of 97 degrees by 4 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 97 degrees and the record high was 108 degrees, set in 1996.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 96 degrees by 6 p.m., to 88 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 82 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Friday's morning low will be 72 degrees and Friday's high will climb to 87 degrees, they said.