National Weather Service National Headquarters

• Home
• Site Map
• News
• Organization
• Search for: NWS All NOAA 

000
FXUS65 KVEF 192153
AFDVEF

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Las Vegas NV
253 PM PDT Fri Apr 19 2019

.SYNOPSIS...A weather system will bring unsettled weather to the
region this weekend. There will be a chance of showers across the
southern Great Basin Saturday along with areawide breezy to
strong winds. Breezy north winds and isolated shower chances will
linger through early next week. Dry conditions and a warming
temperatures are expected mid to late next week as a ridge of high
pressures moves inland. &&

.DISCUSSION....tonight through Friday.

Temperatures across region are currently ranging from the low 80s to
low 90s. Temperatures will warm a few more degrees through the
afternoon despite increasing high clouds pushing in from the south.
As mentioned this morning, a weak closed low, centered about 300
miles west of southern California, will open as it tracks inland
this evening. As it does, it will bring additional mid to high
clouds, keeping warm temperatures going through the night.
Anomalously warm overnight lows may flirt with high minimum
temperature records, especially for Las Vegas.

The aforementioned weak, trough will eject into the Intermountain
West Saturday morning pulling high clouds with it. Meanwhile, a
colder, more intense, shortwave will advance toward the region. As
this stronger system moves inland, gradients will tighten and breezy
to locally windy conditions will develop and will be the primary
impact of this system. The strongest belt of southwest winds will
stretch from the Barstow area across southern Nevada and into
northern Mohave County Saturday afternoon. In most of those areas
wind gusts will fall between 30-40 MPH. A few areas, including the
western Mojave Desert (Barstow area), Morongo Basin, Spring
Mountains, and east Sierra, will see periods of stronger wind gusts
in the 40-50 MPH range. There is some indication of downslope
enhanced winds in the lee of the Spring Mountains Saturday evening,
where 40 MPH could reach into the western edge of the Las Vegas
valley; however, confidence is too low to warrant Wind Advisory.
That said, decided to issue a Wind Advisory for the western Mojave
Desert and Morongo Basin zones. Winds will gradually decrease as the
surface cold front sweeps through Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Along and behind that cold front, breezy north winds are expected
but should start to wash out as the upper trough stalls and begins
to close off over Nevada Sunday.

In Addition to winds, there will be scattered showers and isolated
thunderstorms associated with this system. The bulk of the shower
activity will occur Saturday afternoon/evening as the cold front
moves south into the southern Great Basin. Any accumulating precip
should be confined to the northern zones through Monday. However, as
the semi-cutoff low develops southward and the cold pool moves
overhead Monday afternoon, a few convective showers in the Clark
County mountains may result in light precip accumulation.

By Tuesday, the partially cutoff upper low will slowly move into the
Four Corners leaving northeast breezes in its wake. Through the
remainder of the week a ridge of high pressure will nose in, brining
clearing skies, warming temperatures and light winds.
&&


.AVIATION...For McCarran...Variable winds should begin to favor a
southeast direction up to 8 knots before turning to the southwest
this evening. Expect increasing southwest winds late Saturday
morning continuing through Saturday afternoon with gusts to around
30 knots possible. SCT-BKN cloud cover generally above 20k feet into
this evening then the cloud deck lowers to around 15k feet overnight
in Saturday morning. More high clouds are expected Saturday
afternoon.

For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast
California...Southerly winds generally 10-15 knots except 15-20
knots and gusty across the western Mojave Desert including KDAG
tonight. Stronger winds generally 15-20 knots with gusts up to 35
knots across the deserts Saturday with stronger winds 20-30 knots
with gusts over 40 kts possible across the western Mojave Desert
Saturday afternoon and evening. Winds decrease overnight Saturday
into Sunday. Increasing shower chances in the Sierra and
southcentral Nevada on Saturday with CIGS around 10k feet. Dry
elsewhere with CIGS generally above 12k feet.
&&


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

$$

DISCUSSION...Boothe
AVIATION.....Salmen

For more forecast information...see us on our webpage:

http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter