TONIGHT: Mostly clear. Low: 66°
TOMORROW: Partly cloudy and breezy with gusts up to 30mph. High: 79°
TUESDAY: Partly cloudy. High: 75°
Active weather ramps up in the Silver State Sunday as a low-pressure system moves inland. Wind gusts around 30mph were common this afternoon with some virga (rain that evaporates before it reaches the ground) in the Las Vegas valley. Rain chances remain low through the rest of this evening, while southerly winds stick around in the overnight hours.
On Monday, temperatures will have cooled by at least 10 degrees — our high temps will hang in the upper 70s. It will be breezy once again with gusts up to 30mph.
Tuesday will be our coolest day of this extended forecast with a high of 75 degrees which is below average for this time in May. We'll quickly turn a corner by Wednesday though with highs back in the 80s. By next weekend, our highs will approach the triple digits.
STRONG WINDS DAMAGE TREE
Between 4:30 and 5:00 PM, locals in North Las Vegas reported strong gusts moved through their neighborhood and knocked down a tree! They asked if could have been a dust devil. The answer is maybe.
In most locations, dust devils typically last only a few minutes before dissipating. Wind speeds in larger dust devils can reach 60 mph or greater. Even though they are generally smaller than tornadoes, dust devils can still be destructive as they lift dust and other debris into the air.
Dust devils form in areas where there is strong surface heating. Once the ground heats up enough, a localized pocket of air will quickly rise through the cooler air above it. The sudden uprush of hot air causes air to speed horizontally inward to the bottom of the newly-forming vortex. This rapidly rising pocket of air may begin to rotate, and if it continues to be stretched in the vertical direction, will increase in rotation speed.
Temperatures we're quite warm in the Las Vegas valley reaching the low 90s. In addition, one weather station near West Cheyenne and North Simmons in North Las Vegas recorded a wind gust of 65mph at 4:30pm. This gust was likely not associated with the property damage, due to the distance from that individual's residence. However, conditions could have created strong gusts in the area in general, and a dust devil can not be ruled out.
