LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — With wind gusts reaching close to 60 mph in some parts of the valley Monday, NV Energy was prepared in case of outages.
8 News Now spoke to local residents and tourists who were all in good spirits about the high winds on Monday, and all of them were surprised at the strong gusts, but did not let it keep them from having a good time in Las Vegas.
“Very surprised,” said Wales visitor Ian Evans. “I was expecting it to be melting hot to be honest, but the breeze is brilliant to me, I’m happy.”
A high wind warning was in effect Monday throughout the valley for gusts up to 70 mph. While many areas of town saw 40 to 50 mph winds, it didn’t stop tourists at the fabulous Las Vegas sign from stepping out, although it might have slightly changed plans.
“I came from a weather advisory in California as half of our power was out in town, so I was expecting to come to sun,” said California visitor Jenna Redman.
“We are actually really disappointed in this weather, because we came to take pictures at the desert and we had to switch the location, because it was dangerous.,” said Colorado visitor Kara Tabita.
Lines weren’t as long at the sign due to the intense winds and dust in the air.
“This is the first time I’ve seen it so bad, because sometimes you feel it at night and that’s no problem, but when you feel it during the day like right now, I better stay in the car for a while,” a local resident said.
Scott Kaufmann with NV Energy shared that the company planned accordingly in preparation for the strong winds.
“We’ve got crews that are holding over and staying late today and we are doubling up on some of our trouble shooter assignments out in the field, so if something were to happen we can get out there and respond as quickly as we can,” he said.
As for outages, NV Energy didn’t see any major areas hit by the strong winds. Gusts are expected to continue for a couple more hours and should settle by early Tuesday morning.