Thick fog that disrupted Las Vegas flights expected to clear up Friday

By Pashtana Usufzy, Ian Whitaker

Published Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014 | 8:48 a.m.

Updated Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014 | 9:50 p.m.

Las Vegas can look forward to sunnier skiers as it prepares to say goodbye to fog that rolled in Tuesday, officials said.

Though patches of fog were suspended over parts of the valley Thursday evening, National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Outler said the skies should be sunnier with some high clouds by late Friday afternoon.

The fog lifted Thursday afternoon, but patches began to reappear in the evening, Outler said.

Visibility will still be reduced Friday morning but will not be as bad as Thursday morning, he said.

The thick blanket of fog that rolled in this week caused a rash of car crashes and delayed and diverted flights at McCarran International Airport, officials said.

At the Las Vegas airport, no planes were allowed to land Thursday between 6:30 and 9:45 a.m. because of the weather, McCarran spokeswoman Christine Crews said. A number of flights were diverted to Phoenix, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Reno and Los Angeles, she said.

Some flights coming into Las Vegas were delayed by more than three hours, officials said.

The Nevada Highway Patrol, meanwhile, responded to about 100 wrecks from 2 p.m. Tuesday through about noon Wednesday, Trooper Chelsea Steunkel said. Most of the accidents were the result of speeding or following too close on slick highways, she said.

She said drivers should use their low-beam headlights in the fog; high beams reflect the light, making visibility worse.

Fog closed the scenic route through Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area on Wednesday, and the National Weather Service advised drivers around the Spring Mountains to be careful. Visibility has been less than a quarter mile at higher elevations. The scenic route reopened about 12:45 p.m. on Thursday.

The last time Las Vegas saw dense fog was Jan. 13, weather service meteorologist Todd Lericos said. Fog is not uncommon in the winter, but it normally doesn’t linger for so long, he said.

A small storm system is expected Friday evening but should clear by Saturday night, Pullin said. There will be at most a 10 to 20 percent chance of rain in the valley Friday night and a 20 to 30 percent chance in the Spring Mountains, he said.

The forecast for the next seven days is for partly cloudy skies until the weekend, when it will be mostly sunny and clear through Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.