Winds threaten, but don’t stop Las Vegas New Year’s Eve fireworks
High winds threatened, but did not delay the New Year’s Eve fireworks on the Las Vegas Strip on Friday.
After reaching nearly 35 mph earlier in the evening, winds decreased at Harry Reid International Airport just before 10 p.m., raising hopes that the eight-minute fireworks show would go off as planned. And it did.
Winds had dropped to 9 mph before 10 p.m., but spiked to 25 mph shortly before 11 p.m.
The decision to have the show waited until minutes before the midnight start.
“There’s a protocol and it’s the same every year,” county spokesman Erik Pappa said in an email. “Before midnight, they measure wind speeds and test fire some shells from each launch site to see if they are landing in the safe zone. If all is well, the fireworks will be launched right at midnight.”
At 7:45 p.m., winds on the Strip were strong enough to cancel the 8 p.m. show for the Bellagio fountains.
One gust of 59 mph was recorded at the airport just before 6:45 p.m.
Sustained winds of 10 mph would have prompted county officials to delay the display.
The Strip fireworks show, planned for eight hotels to launch fireworks, has never been called off because of high winds.
The temperature in Las Vegas dropped to 41 degrees by midnight.
High winds had not caused any significant power outages as of 10:30 p.m., with NV Energy reporting less than 50 customers without power.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter. Review=Journal reporter Blake Apgar contributed to this report.