Dust, high wind advisories issued for Las Vegas

By Mary Manning

Thursday, April 2, 2009 | 10:08 a.m.

As high winds move into the Las Vegas Valley this afternoon and through Friday, officials have issued advisories for both gusty blasts and expected dust.

The National Weather Service has issued a high wind advisory from this afternoon through Friday as a colder weather pattern approaches Southern Nevada. Winds will pick up 15 to 25 mph today and gusts could reach 40 to 50 mph as the front moves through the valley.

Over Thursday night into Friday there's a possibility of isolated showers in and around the valley, but most of the rain is expected to stay north of the valley, the weather service says.

The Clark County Air Quality and Environmental Management Division has issued a dust advisory for all of Clark County. The advisory says that sensitive people, especially the young, the very old and those with chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma, should protect themselves when dust particles are in the air. That means staying inside and using the air conditioning to filter out dust that might be inhaled.

The advisory also goes to any construction site managers, who need to prepare for the coming winds.

Friday into Saturday temperatures will drop dramatically from today's low to mid 80s. On Friday the daytime high is expected to reach 68 degrees and on Saturday it should only record 66 degrees with continued winds.