LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The impact of wildfire smoke in the Las Vegas valley could be felt from the schoolyard to the airport on Wednesday.
Aside from prompting an air quality advisory due to the unhealthy air and particles of pollution, the smoke prompted changes to Clark County School District activities and caused delays at Harry Reid International Airport.
If the wildfires are in California, why are we seeing so much smoke in Las Vegas? Meteorologist Justin Bruce explains.
Outdoor school activities canceled
The impact of the smoky air prompted the Clark County School District to cancel all non-essential outdoor activities. The school district's principals were told to ensure activities like lunch, P.E. classes and recess were moved indoors on Wednesday.
The cancellations extend to extracurricular sports activities, which district officials noted would be rescheduled.
Flights delayed at Las Vegas airport
An advisory from the Federal Aviation Administration warned the impact of the smoke on visibility around the airport could cause delays at Harry Reid International.
"This is causing some arriving flights to be delayed an average of 1 hour and 5 minutes," according to the FAA's alert.
The online flight tracking service Flight Aware had documented 478 delayed flights at Harry Reid airport as of 2:48 p.m.
Of those flights, 283 were flights to Las Vegas and 195 were flights out of Las Vegas. The majority of the delays — an estimated 62% — were for Southwest Airlines flights.
As of this report, 11 flights had been canceled. Nine of those were Southwest flights.
