Las Vegas Valley winds cause outages

While most people were confined to their couches or bar stools watching Super Bowl XLII Sunday, strong winds swept through the Las Vegas Valley, uprooting a tree and causing a localized power outage.

The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for the valley at 9 a.m., and powerful winds and inclement weather remained for most of the day.

The advisory was lifted at 7 p.m., said Clay Morgan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas.

Morgan said the strongest gusts, measured at 52 mph, were felt at the North Las Vegas airport just before 1 p.m. Morgan said the average wind speed for the day in the Las Vegas Valley was 17 mph.

"That's pretty strong," he said.

Morgan said wind advisories are issued when there are sustained winds of 30 mph or faster or if wind gusts top 40 mph.

Las Vegas police Lt. Ted Snodgrass said the wind caused power outages at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Washington Avenue.

The outages caused the traffic lights to go out at 3 p.m. and again go out at least once after that, Snodgrass said.

A crane was called to near Charleston and Lamb boulevards to support an aging telephone pole leaning with the wind.

Snodgrass said a tree was uprooted at about 4 p.m. that blocked the emergency lane on Alta Drive between Decatur and Upland boulevards.

Snodgrass said damage was minimal and probably was less because so many people were watching the Super Bowl and not on the roads.

The high temperature Sunday was 57 degrees, and the low at midnight was expected to be 39 degrees.

Average temperatures for the day are 60 degrees for the high and 39 for the low.

There will not be a wind advisory issued today, Morgan said.

He added the temperature today will be colder than normal, at 51 degrees for the high and 33 degrees for the low.