Neon Desert Weather News

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
1124 AM PDT THU APR 29 2010


THE STRONG WINDS THAT BLEW ACROSS THE LAS VEGAS VALLEY WEDNESDAY
EVENING...APRIL 28...PRODUCED A PEAK WIND GUST OF 63 MPH FROM THE
SOUTHWEST AT 614 PM PDT AT MCCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...THE
OFFICIAL CLIMATE STATION FOR LAS VEGAS. THIS TIED FOR THE SECOND
HIGHEST WIND GUST EVER IN THE MONTH OF APRIL IN LAS VEGAS BASED ON
RECORDS DATING BACK TO 1950. A 63 MPH GUST FROM THE WEST-SOUTHWEST
WAS ALSO RECORDED BACK ON APRIL 19 1962.

THE HIGHEST WIND GUST EVER IN LAS VEGAS IN THE MONTH OF APRIL AT THE
OFFICIAL CLIMATE STATION AT MCCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS A
GUST OF 69 MPH FROM THE WEST ON APRIL 30 1988 RECORDED SHORTLY AFTER
6 PM THAT EVENING. THE APRIL 30 1988 WIND EVENT KNOCKED OUT POWER TO
15000 CUSTOMERS...TOOK DOWN DOZENS OF TREES AND CINDERBLOCK WALLS
AROUND THE YARDS OF HOMES AND RESULTED IN THE POWER LOSS TO TRAFFIC
LIGHTS ON THE LAS VEGAS STRIP FOR ABOUT 3 HOURS.

THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS PRELIMINARY AND IS SUBJECT TO A FINAL
REVIEW BEFORE BEING CERTIFIED BY THE NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER

Info courtesy of the NWS office Las Vegas

Our recent wind event has resulted in a new peak wind gust for 2010 at the Neon Desert Weather Station. Shortly after 2am this morning the anemometer reached 42mph. Overall, it has been extremely windy the past 24 hours with sustained winds generally in the 25mph range with frequent gusts into the mid and upper 30's.

The strong winds are expected to last through Thursday night.

Update: As of 5:10pm PDT a new peak wind gust of 44mph from the SSW has been reached.
As stated above, these strong winds are expected to continue with the strongest winds ending between 9pm and midnight tonight. Areas of blowing dust with areas of greatly reduced visibility will occur, especially in open desert areas. As a cold front, currently positioned just to the NW of Clark county, moves through this evening winds will shift to the NW and usher in much cooler air.

Above image courtesy of NWS Las Vegas

The Valley's recent flirt with 90 degree high temperatures will come to an abrupt end on Wednesday. The past four days have seen high's in the upper 80's in some areas and brought our first 90 degree high on Sunday the 18th. This will all change after today as a strong low pressure system diving south from the Gulf of Alaska into the Pacific Northwest brings strong southwest winds to the region. Most valley locations can expect winds gusting into the upper 30's to near 40mph. After this, temperatures will come crashing down with highs on Wednesday and Thursday only reaching the mid 60's. This system is also expected to bring a chance of showers and an isolated thunderstorm or two tonight through Thursday night.

A fierce wind storm blew across the Las Vegas valley causing significant damage along with several injuries. Winds officially gusted to 59 mph at McCarran International Airport, with gusts of 69 mph recorded at the NWS office. Other wind gusts around the valley included 80 mph at Apex Station and 91 mph at an unofficial weather station 7 miles south of the Las Vegas strip. Four people were injured on the Strip from flying debris and several accidents were blamed on the wind. Strong winds also caused considerable damage to portions of Lincoln County. Shingles were blown off many roofs, several empty buildings were blown down, power outages were wide spread, down power lines started many fires across town, and several wind caused rock slides causing people to be stranded were reported. Because of this, the County Commissioner declared a state of emergency and closed the county.


Source: NWS Las Vegas

It's been rather windy across the Vegas Valley the past several days and the upcoming week will continue this trend. Neon Desert Weather reached it's peak gust so far for the year on Wednesday March 31st when the anemometer hit 40mph at 2pm.

With the next approaching storm system, strong southwest winds are expected again starting this Sunday and continuing through Monday night.



Above image courtesy of the NWS office in Las Vegas