


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Las Vegas, NV
Issued by NWS Las Vegas, NV
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738 FXUS65 KVEF 081044 AFDVEF Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 345 AM PDT Wed Oct 8 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... * Dry conditions and a warming trend will continue through today as high pressure builds across the region. * Increasing confidence for showers and thunderstorms Thursday through Saturday as moisture from Hurricane Priscilla moves into the Desert Southwest. * Pockets of very heavy rainfall and localized flooding are possible across parts of Northwest Arizona and Colorado River Valley late Thursday through Saturday. && .DISCUSSION...through early next week. High pressure will remain over the area through today, but we will start to see some minor changes this afternoon. Low pressure off the Pacific NW coast will slowly shift south today increasing the southwest flow over our far northwest zones. This will bring some increasing south to southwest winds across northern Inyo, Esmeralda, and central Nye counties with breezy to locally wind conditions expected. Most of those area will see wind gusts 25-35 mph, but winds in the Owens Valley could see afternoon gusts approaching 40 mph. Elsewhere, south to southwest winds will increase, but most areas will see gusts 10-20 mph. Meanwhile, temperatures will climb a few degrees above normal today under continued sunshine and rising heights. Changes are in store Thursday onward as increasing moisture from Hurricane Priscilla is advected northward ahead of a deepening trough off the West Coast. Increasing cloud cover will spread northward Thursday morning and by Thursday afternoon, precipitable water anomalies of 250-350% of normal or greater will encompass most of the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin. This highly anomalous moisture advection interacting with the approaching trough and favorable jet dynamics will result in several periods of shower and thunderstorm activity late in the week. Forecast guidance seems to be hinting at an axis of precipitation developing on the western edge of the deeper moisture collocated with the right entrance region of an upper level jet by Thursday evening. This precipitation axis sets up roughly along the I-15 corridor, with additional pockets of precipitation developing across Northwest Arizona and the Colorado River Valley into Friday. What remains somewhat uncertain is how much of the precipitation will be stratiform versus convective, but given the near record precipitable water values, along with synoptic enhancement from the approaching trough, heavier downpours could certainly pose a flood risk with the potential of a Flash Flood Watch increasing. This deep subtropical moisture will remain in place through Saturday morning before gradually drying out from west to east through Sunday as the trough axis sweeps through. Still lots of uncertainty toward the middle of next week as the pattern looks to remain unsettled. && .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...For the 12Z Forecast Package...Winds will generally follow diurnal patterns into this evening, shifting from the southwest this morning to the east by late morning, and to the southeast by afternoon, increasing to around 8KT. Late afternoon through the evening, winds settle more out of the south, remaining around 8KT, though intermittent higher gusts to 12-15KT cannot be ruled out. Winds then become light and variable overnight, with increasing mid and high clouds late evening onward. VFR conditions prevail. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...For the 12Z Forecast Package...Winds across most of the TAF sites will generally favor diurnal directional patterns into this evening, with winds shifting to the southeast and south areawide by this afternoon. Sustained speeds largely remain around 10KT or less, though slightly stronger winds with gusts to 15-20KT are expected across portions of the Colorado River Valley, the southern Las Vegas Valley, and in the western Mojave Desert. In the Owens Valley, KBIH will see gusty up-valley winds from afternoon onward, peaking around 30-35KT late afternoon through mid evening. Elsewhere, winds diminish after sunset. VFR conditions prevail. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && $$ DISCUSSION...Gorelow/Outler AVIATION...Gorelow For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter