Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Las Vegas, NV
Issued by NWS Las Vegas, NV
255 FXUS65 KVEF 110402 AFDVEF Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 910 PM PDT Sat Aug 10 2024 .SYNOPSIS...Monsoonal moisture will continue to provide fuel for thunderstorms across southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and eastern San Bernardino County through Sunday. Above normal temperatures will continue as high pressure persists over the southwestern states. Drier air is forecast to push into the region Monday and much of the coming week, reducing thunderstorm chances and bringing slightly cooler temperatures to the region. && .UPDATE...After an afternoon of mainly weak-pulse convection, an outflow boundary moving north out of La Paz County, Arizona triggered fairly robust storm development across Mohave County that is gradually waning at this hour. Some of the stronger cores developing in the Hualapai Mountains and near Yucca suggested hail up to quarter size and strong wind gusts. A few rain gages in the Haulapais also observed some impressive rainfall totals, with one guage east of the Pine Lake Community picking up 3.98 inches of rainfall for the day. With the loss of daytime heating, convection will continue to weaken through the remainder of the evening, though a few lingering storms may pop up along boundary interactions across Mohave County. The current forecast is in good shape for the evening and no update is necessary. -Outler- && .SHORT TERM...through Sunday night. Thunderstorms started developing before noon over the mountains of southern Nevada and northwest Arizona and conditions are favorable for thunderstorm coverage to expand through the afternoon as cells slowly move toward the east-southeast. This will increase the potential for storms moving off the mountains and across the valleys of central and southern Clark County including Las Vegas... especially over the southern and western parts of the metro area. Surface CAPE values around 1000 J/kg were in place across much of southeast Nevada northwest Arizona and eastern San Bernardino County in California and full surface heating will largely remove any remaining CIN. Also, surface dewpoints in the upper 50s and precipitable water values near 1.4 inches support the potential for isolated heavy rain with some storms. After surface heating initiates storms, boundary interactions should aid convection into this evening especially over Mohave County and the lower Colorado River Valley. Hi res models indicate the potential for convection over southwest Arizona this afternoon to push widespread outflow and additional low level moisture up across northwest Arizona and far southern Nevada tonight. This additional infusion of moisture will keep the moist and unstable air mass largely over the same portion of our forecast area Sunday. The latest HREF and NBM indicate a slight decrease in PoPs over Clark County Sunday afternoon, but higher values over northeast Mohave County around Colorado City. There are indications of ingredients coming together for heavy rainfall concentrating around that area Sunday afternoon. High temperatures will continue to run 3-6 degrees above normal which translates to highs of 103 to 109 across the Mojave Desert zones. Overnight lows stay warm in the lower deserts. .LONG TERM...Monday through Saturday. A drying trend is shaping up Monday through at least Thursday as a broad trough dropping down from the Pacific Northwest into the western states leads to a widespread dry southwest flow which will begin pushing moisture east of our area Monday then will likely totally scour it out by Tuesday. An eastern Pacific high approaching the SoCal coast then reinforces the drying with west-northwest flow aloft Wednesday-Thursday which may persist beyond as ensemble clusters indicate another broad trough dipping over the Pacific Northwest and northern California/Nevada. However, if this trough axis holds near the West Coast it would allow the ridge to amplify over New Mexico/Colorado and resulting in a southeast flow directing moisture from northern Mexico up across Arizona and back into our area Friday and Saturday. The ECMWF ensemble members are indicating this trend more than the GEFS. The latest NBM Pop grids do bring 20-30 percent values into eastern Mohave County Friday then spread 15-20 percent values into southern Nevada by Saturday afternoon. While we wait for monsoon moisture to return, breezy afternoons and high temperatures holding generally between 100 and 108 degrees can be expected for most desert zones. && .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...A messy afternoon and early evening is likely. Thunderstorms will develop over the local mountains and drift east to southeast, ejecting outflow winds which will not only impact airport operations but also help develop new thunderstorms. There is a high (70%) probability of outflow winds of 20 to 30 knots affecting the terminal, and a lower (30%) probability of a thunderstorm directly impacting the airfield. By about 03Z the weather should be settling down, but there is low confidence in what the winds will look like at that time after possibly multiple rounds of outflows. It looks like thunderstorm potential will be a little bit lower on Sunday and much lower on Monday, although the Mormon Mesa and Peach Springs corridors will still be affected. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Thunderstorm chances are expected this afternoon and evening near and east of a line from Morongo Valley to Mount Charleston to Rachel, with the highest chances in Mohave County. The main threats will be erratic, gusty winds and locally lowered ceilings with terrain obscuration. The same areas will be at risk for thunderstorms Sunday, with the same threats, before drier air moving in from the west pushes thunderstorm chances eastward to Mohave County and the Nevada/Utah border area on Monday. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && $$ SHORT TERM/LONG TERM...Adair AVIATION...Morgan For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter