High Wind in California, April 19, 2022

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Las Vegas NV
838 PM PDT Mon Apr 18 2022

.SYNOPSIS...Breezes will continue tonight with strong
and gusty winds in store for Tuesday. Warmest temperatures of the
week will occur this afternoon before gradually cooling through the
week. Gusty winds will persist for the latter half of the week with
an additional storm system bringing gusty winds and shower chances
to the region Thursday and Friday. The weekend into early next week
will be dry and warmer.

&&

.UPDATE...Mainly high level clouds continue to stream into the
Desert Southwest and Great Basin. These clouds will continue to
thicken overnight but will remain fairly high. There have been
plenty of interesting lenticular clouds across many portions of the
forecast area this evening, being favored in the lee of the eastern
Sierra. Downslope winds have been generally blowing 35 to 55 mph in
the eastern Sierra and down into the Owens Valley. There have been a
couple higher gusts, 57 mph at the Oak Creek RAWS and 63 mph at
Round Valley. At this point a wind advisory remains in effect across
the eastern Sierra and Owens Valley and no changes will be made. The
Wind Advisory expands to the south and east on Tuesday morning.
&&

.SHORT TERM...through Wednesday night.

Considerable mid/high clouds at times through Tuesday as long fetch
of subtropical moisture streams inland along southern periphery of
trough moving through the Pac NW/Great Basin.

Cross section across the southern Sierra/Owens Valley still shows a
window for downslope winds between 4 pm and 9 pm this evening.
Signature not as impressive looking as April 11 or April 16. Not
much signature showing up for Tuesday based on the cross section
with strongest winds not making it down to the lower slopes or
across the valley. Elsewhere, strongest belt of southwest winds will
occur from the western Mojave Desert northeast into Clark and Mohave
Counties tomorrow. Anticipate gust 45 to 55 mph for the Mojave
Desert and northwest Arizona, while localized gusts 55 to 65
possible in the Spring Mtns/Red Rock Canyon. Made no change in our
suite of products.

Region will lie between systems on Wednesday.

Warm today with readings around 10 degrees above normal. Its
possible a few record warm lows could be set tonight as temperatures
will struggle to lower overnight due to elevated winds and more
clouds. Not as warm Tuesday or Wednesday as readings edge back
closer to normal.

.LONG TERM....Thursday through Monday.

By Thursday, a potent closed low off the PacNW coast will transition
to an open wave, with energy moving through the base of the trough
as it digs into SoCal Thursday afternoon. This will lead to
increased pressure gradients bringing gusty southwest winds to the
region. Additionally, some moisture associated with the low center
will increase precip chances ahead of and along the cold front
progged to move through Friday. With increased cloud cover and
cooler air being advected into the region Friday, Friday will be
the coolest day of the week. Cluster Analysis is still indicating
some uncertainty with how quickly the trough moves out of the
region Saturday, but overall, heights will steadily increase behind
the trough increasing temperatures into early next week.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...Strong southwesterly winds Tuesday
with minimum humidity values falling into the single digits across
much of the area. This will lead to a period of critical fire
weather given that fuels are cured across Southern Nevada and
parts of Northwest Arizona. A Red Flag Warning has been posted
for 9 am - 9 pm Tuesday to account for the dry and gusty
conditions. Additional gusty winds return late in the week with
cooling conditions and chances of light showers.

&&

.AVIATION...For Harry Reid...South to southwest winds are expected
to remain in place through Tuesday afternoon. Winds speeds into this
evening are expected to remain around 15-25kts and then only
decrease slightly overnight with gusts remaining around 18-20kts.
Stronger winds are expected Tuesday afternoon, especially between
18z-02Z with southwest winds 30-40kts. Blowing dust will be more of
an issue Tuesday with visibility at times dropping to below 6sm. A
FEW clouds around 15k feet with SCT-BKN200 through Tuesday.

For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast
California...South to southwest winds are expected gusty through
Tuesday afternoon with speeds this afternoon 15-25kts with
potentially higher gusts across the western Mojave Desert were gusts
30-35kts are possible. Winds will remain elevated overnight with
gusts continuing between 20-25kts. Stronger winds are expected
Tuesday especially across the southern Great Basin and Mojave
Desert, especially across San Bernardino, Clark, and Mohave
Counties. Southwest winds 35-45kts are likely along with areas of
blowing dust reducing visibility to less than 6sm at times. SCT-BKN
clouds aoa 20 kft.

&&

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report
any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating
procedures.
&&

UPDATE...Czyzyk
SHORT TERM/FIRE WEATHER...Pierce
LONG TERM...Peters
AVIATION...Gorelow

For more forecast information...see us on our webpage:
https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter