Wind advisory, wildfire warning issue for Las Vegas area

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 | 5:30 a.m.

Strong, dry winds and temperatures in the mid 90s are in store for the Las Vegas area today, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a wind advisory and a wildfire warning.

The winds are being brought by a low pressure system moving across northern Nevada today, the weather service said.

Temperatures will be several degrees lower today and Thursday, then slowly increase to near normal by the end of the week, forecasters said.

A red flag warning will be in effect from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. today for most of southern Nevada, southeast California and northwest Nevada.

A wind advisory will be in effect from noon to 9 p.m. the western and eastern Mojave Desert, Death Valley National Park, the Spring Mountains, the Sheep Range, southern Nye County, Clark County, Lincoln County and the northwest Plateau and northwest deserts of Arizona.

Wind speeds will be between 20 to 35 mph, with gusts of between 40 and 50 mph across the deserts, the weather service said. Elevations above 7,000 feet will have gusts up to 60 mph.

The gusty winds will combine with relative humidity values in the single digits at elevations below 5,000 feet, forecasters said.

Winds will begin to shift and become northwest across south-central Nevada late Wednesday afternoon through early evening behind a cold front, forecasters said. Northwest to north winds gusting betweeen 35 and 45 mph will continue as the front pushes down through southern Nevada by late Wednesday evening, they said.

After 10 p.m., north winds should decrease to less than 30 mph and relative humidity levels will climb above 20 percent, forecasters said.

The strong winds are expected to make driving difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles. The strong winds over desert areas could result in lowering visibilities to under a mile because of blowing dust or sand, forecasters said.

At 4:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 78 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 73 degrees. The record low was 53 degrees, set in 1944.

Around the valley just before 5 a.m., temperatures were 77 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 79 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 76 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 83 degrees by 9 a.m., to 90 degrees by noon and reach a high of 94 degrees by 4 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 99 degrees and the record high was 114 degrees, set in 1940.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 93 degrees by 6 p.m., to 87 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 81 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Thursday's morning low will be 74 degrees and Thursday's high will climb to 93 degrees, they said.