Windy city: Las Vegas recovers from gusty weekend

This week’s weather was expected to return to relative normalcy after a weekend of heavy winds rocked the Las Vegas Valley, causing power outages and leaving damage and downed trees all over the valley.

A gust at Harry Reid International Airport measured 68 mph on Saturday, the strongest gust recorded there since March 27, 1985.

But the strongest wind gust in Las Vegas history, at least since records started being kept in 1951, measured 90 mph on Aug. 8, 1989, said Matt Woods, a meteorologist with the Las Vegas office of the National Weather Service.

“It’s interesting. It certainly kind of keeps us on our toes,” Woods said about the recent windy weather.

When the wind in Las Vegas measured 68 mph on March 27, 1985, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal archives, the wind kicked up enough sand to lead to zero visibility conditions on U.S. Highway 95 between Las Vegas and Searchlight, leading to two crashes that left one woman dead and three other people injured.

This time, however, the valley had seen enough precipitation in recent weeks to prevent dust from being an issue, Woods said.

Still, the wind did scuttle electricity for thousands across the valley.

At about 3 p.m. Sunday, about 700 people were without power across Nevada, with about 600 concentrated in Southern Nevada, a significant drop from the around 34,000 people who were without power across the state on Saturday as a massive blizzard moved through northern California and Nevada.

Winds down trees, cause power outages

On Sunday, outages peaked Sunday around 10:40 a.m. when 2,600 residents were without power, growing from less than 1,000 outages around 7:30 a.m.

The winds also affected air travel.

The Harry Reid International Airport was experiencing departure delays of about 16 to 30 minutes on average around 6:15 p.m. Sunday, and inbound flights were being delayed at their origin an average of 1 hour, 17 minutes, according to FlightAware.com.

As of 9:15 p.m. Saturday, 519 flights had been delayed with 65 cancellations, FlightAware.com reported. The website said that 613 flights into and out of Harry Reid had been delayed Sunday, with nine canceled flights.

Damage could be seen across the valley on Saturday and Sunday. Large trees were downed in Summerlin. A traffic signal on Paseo Verde Parkway at St. Rose Parkway in Henderson fell over on Friday night and was replaced with a temporary signal, according to a post on X by Review-Journal reporter Mick Akers.

A wind advisory was in effect until 10 p.m. Sunday for areas of Arizona, California and Nevada, including the Las Vegas Valley, with southwest winds of about 35 to 35 mph and gusts of about 40 to mph, the National Weather Service said.

Seasonal weather to return

Conditions in Las Vegas were expected to settle as the week begins.

“Strong southwest winds will continue over southern Nevada and northwest Arizona into this evening and across parts of southeast California until early Monday morning,” according to a forecast discussion posted on the weather service’s website Sunday. “Winds will be lighter for the upcoming work week while high temperatures warm back to seasonal levels by Tuesday.”

The forecast for the Las Vegas Valley on Monday calls for high 50s to low 60s, with much lighter winds measuring between 5 and 8 mph, according to the weather service. The low Monday night was expected to drop to around 40.

Tuesday also was expected to be sunny with a high near 55, with winds of about 5 to 10 mph, and the low hitting about 42 on Tuesday night.

In the Spring Mountains, it was colder. The Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway delayed opening Sunday morning after the parking lot iced over Saturday night. Sunday’s high was forecast to be around 23 degrees, with a low of 17. The weather service said the wind chill in the mountains could be as low as minus 4, and winds of around 30 to 38 mph were expected with gusts up to 55 mph.

On Monday, Red Rock Canyon and Mount Charleston are expected to be sunny, with highs of around 42 on Mount Charleston and around 56 at Red Rock, according to the weather service, with calmer southwest winds of between 5 to 10 mph.

Monday night was expected to be mostly cloudy and then partly cloudy, with lows of around 27 in Mount Charleston and around 37 at Red Rock.

The weather service also reported the highest wind gusts in Southern Nevada on Saturday. Angel Peak in the Spring Mountains came in first with an 88 mph gust.

Red Rock Canyon’s highest gust was 71 mph, and Harry Reid International’s highest was 68 mph.

Gusts over 60 mph were also reported elsewhere across Southern Nevada, eastern California and northeastern Arizona.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com. Contact Taylor Lane at tlane@reviewjournal.com.