Winds from Arizona storms cut visibility in Las Vegas Valley
in Arizona sent gusty outflow winds into the Las Vegas Valley on Thursday night, limiting visibility for about 3 hours.
Winds were gusting 30 to 35 mph and generating dusty conditions, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jenn Varian.
“The strongest winds happened to go over a dry lake bed which is why we got most of that dust here in Las Vegas,” Varian said of the Arizona storms.
Harry Reid International Airport reported blowing dust and winds to 32 mph as of 9:50 p.m.
Airport flight information later Thursday night indicated that Reid had had 24 cancellations over the past 24 hours and was experiencing average delays of about 50 minutes.
Normal visibility of 10 miles was reduced to just over a mile, according to the weather service website.
Gusts decreased after 10:30 p.m. and visibility was increasing.
“It does look like winds are starting to come down across the valley and with that the dust,” Varian said.
Heads up in Mohave County - strong winds are pushing westward across the Highway 93 corridor between Kingman and the Hoover Dam. Wind gusts to 60 mph possible and blowing dust! #azwx pic.twitter.com/lsmgcqpItY
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) September 9, 2022
“Our observation station at the Henderson airport is out right now, so it’s hard to tell exactly, but around 35 mph,” Varian said. “Mohave County had some stronger storms earlier.”
She said a gust of 57 was recorded near Kingman, Arizona.
“It should last for another hour or so,” she said about 9:45 p.m.
Varian said the worst visibility was at North Las Vegas Airport between 10 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. when visibility was three-quarters of a mile.
She said winds are not expected to be as strong on Friday.
“It’s kind of hard to say for certain if that’s going to happen again tomorrow or not … There’s enough dust in the vicinity of us that if you get the perfect direction then it can reach our area,” Varian said.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@revierwjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer David Wilson contributed to this report.
