Tuesday morning dust brings air quality issues to Las Vegas
A cold front with strong winds aloft brought hazy skies to Southern Nevada early Tuesday, creating air quality issues.
Along with the dust, air quality has taken a hit across much of the Las Vegas Valley.
As of 11:30 a.m., Clark County air quality monitors were showing two stations in the northeast valley with air quality rated as “unhealthy for sensitive groups” while most other monitoring sites were showing air quality as “moderate.”
Most of the elevated levels were in particulate matter — dust — while others were for ozone or carbon monoxide.
“It originated over northern Utah and had some strong winds higher up and the dust just rode along and with it and it came through the valley about 1 a.m.” said National Weather Service meteorologist John Salmen. “It’s now south and east of us in Arizona.”
The dust wasn’t visible until the morning sun revealed it, Salmen noted.
The haze caused a bit of a mystery for meteorologists until well after sunrise.
“It’s primarily in the north and northeast, but the winds aren’t at the level that would cause that,” said meteorologist Trevor Boucher about 6:20 a.m. “We’re not really sure where it’s coming from just yet. We are not aware of any fires, but we are checking with some of our fire partners to see what they know.”
People with respiratory issues are advised to stay indoors.
Above normal temperatures, a sunny sky and wind gusts up to 30 mph are forecast for the valley.
A high of 86 will be close to the 87 recorded Monday. Light and variable winds will become southwest at 6-11 mph in the morning before gusting up to 30 in the afternoon.
Wednesday will see similar conditions before a cold front brings a chance of rain on Thursday.
“Right now we have it as about a 10 to 15 percent chance of some rain,” weather service meteorologist Chelsea Kryston said.
The Thursday high is expected to be about 81.
Conditions will remain warm through the weekend with highs just under 90.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter.
