Wind advisory issued for Lake Mead area

By Dave Toplikar

Sunday, May 2, 2010 | 6:27 a.m.

A sunny day is ahead for the Las Vegas area, with temperatures climbing into the mid 70s. But breezy conditions will make choppy water if you're headed out onto area lakes, according to the National Weather Service.

A weather disturbance moving south across the area today will create sustained northerly winds from 20 to 30 mph and wind gusts to near 40 mph along the Colorado River Valley, mostly south of Hoover Dam, forecasters said.

The weather service has issued a lake wind advisory from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Lake Havasu and Fort Mohave and the Upper Colorado River Valley.

The advisory area include Hoover Dam, Lake Havasu, Desert Hills, Topock, Bullhead City, Mohave Valley, Needles and Laughlin.

The gusty winds will make it difficult to navigate boats and other watercraft equipment, such as jet skis, forecasters said. Lake waters will be choppy to rough, especially in exposed areas, they said. Small boats will be especially prone to capsizing, they said.

Just before 6 a.m., winds were gusting at 23 mph at McCarran International Airport, at 28 mph at Red Rock Canyon and at 19 mph at Boulder City, according to the weather service.

At 5:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran, the official weather recording station, was 62 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 59 degrees. The record low was 43 degrees, set in 1955.

Around the valley just before 6 a.m., temperatures were 60 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 62 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 61 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 65 degrees by 9 a.m., to 70 degrees by noon and reach a high of 73 degrees by 3 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 83 degrees and the record high was 107 degrees, set in 1947.

Temperatures are expected to drop to 72 degrees by 6 p.m., to 67 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 62 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Monday's morning low will be 57 degrees and Monday's high will climb to 82 degrees, they said.