Strong winds kick up clouds of dust in parts of Las Vegas

The strong winds were fueling a wildfire on Mount Charleston in the Spring Mountains.

At noon, the agency reported gusts up to 40 mph at McCarran International Airport and Nellis Air Force Base and 30-35 mph near the center of town.

The weather service issued the advisory at 11 a.m., predicting gusts up to 50 mph in parts of the valley. Clark County also issued a dust advisory for Sunday due to the windy forecast.

On Sunday morning the weather service reported a large cloud of dust rolling into town from the Jean Dry Lake bed, obscuring parts of the mountains that ring the valley to the northwest. A Twitter user shared a photo showing a large wall of dust moving “into the Southern Highlands and Mountain’s Edge areas.”

At 6:20 p.m, the weather service reported a major dust storm with quarter-mile visibility on U.S. Highway 95 between Beatty and Tonopah. Another, “larger haboob” near Gabbs is expected to encompass Nye and Esmeralda counties within two hours.

The weather service tweeted at 6:50 p.m. that the “thickest dust of the day” was moving into Henderson, with visibility dropping below 2 miles.

The airport was not experiencing long delays Sunday evening, according the Federal Aviation Administration website and McCarran’s departure listings. Departure and arrival delays were typically 15 minutes or less.

By Monday, winds should stay in the 5-10 mph range.

Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0365. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter.