High winds, rain, snow forecast to follow cold Las Vegas weekend
Three days of cold Las Vegas Valley temperatures are about to become a few days of potentially hazardous winter storm activity, according to the National Weather Service.
Sunday in Las Vegas was a bit warmer than Saturday with a high of 52 at McCarran International Airport after a Saturday morning low of 32 — the first freezing reading in 674 days since Feb. 5, 2020.
Gusty winds will spread eastward on Tuesday, impacting much of the Mojave Desert and Northwestern Arizona. Combined with the expected rain, it'll be an unpleasant day! Look out for crosswinds and longer travel times to your destinations. #cawx #azwx #nvwx pic.twitter.com/QRSpqdDx9W
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) December 12, 2021
Sunday morning lows ranged from 33 at McCarran and North Las Vegas airports to a 27 at Henderson Executive Airport. Afternoon highs fell several degrees short of the upper 50s that were forecast. McCarran reached just 52 degrees.
Monday’s forecast high is 60 with partly sunny skies.
Hazardous weather forecast
The weather service has issued a wind advisory for Tuesday for the entire Las Vegas region as well as a winter storm warning for the Spring Mountains and Sheep Range.
High winds and heavy rainfall as well as up to a foot of snow are expected. The warning/advisory begins at 4 a.m. Tuesday for 24 hours.
Southerly winds of 20 to 30 mph may gust up to 50 mph in Southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California.
The winter storm could result in very hazardous travel in the mountains and elsewhere, meteorologist Trevor Boucher said.
“There’s a very good chance we could see a quarter on an inch of rain across large portions of the valley and up to a foot of snow in the mountains above 7,000 feet with 4 to 8 inches above 5,000 feet,” Boucher said.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter.