LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A long stretch of pleasant weather in the Las Vegas valley comes to an end this weekend, with potentially damaging winds in the forecast on Saturday and Sunday.
The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday for Las Vegas, the Spring Mountains, Owens Valley, and Barstow. The warning ends at 5 a.m. Sunday.
Wind Advisory for Saturday has been upgraded to a High Wind Warning. Gusts of 50 mph in Las Vegas from midday through evening tomorrow! Will post a forecast discussion and video shortly. pic.twitter.com/DnFqZPptd7
— Justin Bruce (@just1nbruce) October 21, 2022
Widespread gusts between 40 and 60 miles per hour are expected during that time.
Potential hazards include difficult travel conditions, including sudden and dangerous crosswinds and areas of blowing dust.
On Saturday, the NWS issued an additional Dust Storm Warning for southeastern Clark County at 3:45 p.m. The warning is set to last until 4:45 p.m. and will severely impact visibility on Highway 95 and Interstate 11, due to a dust channel that originated in Eldorado Valley.
It's also a good idea to secure loose items, like backyard furniture and Halloween decorations. If items aren't secured or brought inside, they might blow away, get damaged, or cause damage themselves, the Weather Service warned.
One more nice day in store before big changes arrive over the weekend. Take advantage of the nice weather and secure any outdoor items that may blow away with Saturday's winds! #VegasWeather #cawx #nvwx #azwx pic.twitter.com/wSHXq8Oxbw
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) October 21, 2022
With the high wind warning comes an air quality advisory from Clark County due to the likelihood of blowing dust.
The NWS's warning prompted the cancellation of the 2022 Downtown Brew Festival. Organizers announced the change on Friday afternoon, promising to issue refunds.
The highly anticipated When We Were Young festival has canceled the Saturday lineup but says Sunday's performances are still scheduled to go on.
Downtown Summerlin has also canceled the Parade of Mischief and the farmers market, both of which are slated to return next weekend tomorrow.
More impacts: Mt. Charleston power
The high wind warning prompted NV Energy to issue what's known as a PSOM — short for Public Safety Outage Management — warning for Mt. Charleston. As of Friday afternoon, NV Energy said the warning included Kyle Canyon and Angel Peak.
"This means a PSOM event is highly likely on Saturday, October 22 starting sometime between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. and lasting until Sunday, October 23 at 10 a.m. The outage will impact approximately 470 customers," according to NV Energy, which noted potentially impacted customers were warned in advance.
NV Energy says these planned power outages are "a key measure of defense to help protect the community and environment from wildfires." They're intended to prevent power lines from causing a wildfire during certain weather events.
Watch an updated full forecast from 13 Action News meteorologists here.
