Storm blows through Las Vegas, thousands lose power
A fast-moving storm with strong winds hit the Las Vegas Valley on Saturday afternoon, toppling trees and traffic lights and causing outages from downed power lines.
The National Weather Service briefly issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Clark County, and urged people to take shelter, as the second of two cold fronts moved through the valley. The thunderstorm warning ended by 2:15 p.m. as the system moved out of the area, but a wind advisory will remain in effect until 4 a.m. Sunday.
The strongest wind gust, at 73 mph, was recorded about 1:45 p.m. at North Las Vegas Airport, weather service meteorologist Barry Pierce said Saturday. A gust of 62 mph was recorded at McCarran International Airport, while Nellis Air Force Base had a 64 mph gust, he said.
Check out this CRAZY video of this afternoons storm moving through, complete with a gustnado spin up! ⛈ #vegasweather pic.twitter.com/fGUIqGTSCP
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) February 13, 2021
The weather service also received reports of gustnados. Instead of circular winds developing in the clouds, a gustnado causes a “cyclonic circulation” toward the ground, Pierce said.
“A gustnado is just sort of a quick spin up toward the surface and not really connected with the cloud surface itself,” he said.
As of 11 p.m., NV Energy was reporting about 5,000 customers in Clark County were without power, according to the company’s website. More than 11,000 people had been affected by an outage on South Durango Drive near West Charleston Boulevard.
The weather service tweeted at about 2 p.m. that power outages have been reported “across the valley,” and warned motorists to drive with caution and “yield to traffic.”
Along with trees in roads and power outages, the Las Vegas Fire Department said a “bouncy house” was blown onto a house in the west valley. Dispatchers were told that children were inside the inflatable structure when it was picked up by the wind, but all the children were inside the home when firefighters arrived, spokesman Tim Szymanski said. No one was injured.
Part of the roof of a strip mall was blown off on West Charleston Boulevard, Szymanski said in an emailed statement about 2:15 p.m. No one was injured.
At the West Wind Las Vegas Drive-In near Rancho Drive and Carey Avenue, part of a giant movie screen was blown into the road, blocking the westbound lanes on Carey.
A traffic pole was down in the road blocking traffic at Charleston Boulevard and Torrey Pines Drive, the fire department tweeted at 2 p.m.
Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Joey Herring said a tree was also blocking traffic in the east valley, at Maryland Parkway and Karen Avenue. Southbound traffic was blocked in the area as of about 2 p.m., he said.
A view of when the storm hit Las Vegas earlier this afternoon from a friend’s condo in One Las Vegas on Las Vegas Blvd. and Windmill. #vegas #vegasweather pic.twitter.com/Db2SVBHi7p
— Mick Akers (@mickakers) February 14, 2021
Although the storm brought plenty of wind, the weather service registered little rain, Pierce said. McCarran, where the weather service takes its official measurements, recorded 0.01 inch of rain as Saturday afternoon. Higher elevations near Summerlin recorded closer to 0.08 inch, while the northwest valley saw 0.04 inch of rain.
All of a sudden it’s really windy in downtown Las Vegas. #weather #rjnow pic.twitter.com/yv6GaJ3Lfs
— Kevin M. Cannon (@kmcannonphoto) February 13, 2021
Sunday’s forecast calls for winds of 15-20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph and a high near 60 degrees.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter. Review-Journal digital content producer Marvin Clemons contributed to this report.
