Plaincast — the National Weather Service forecast, decoded into plain English

Plaincast decodes the National Weather Service's Area Forecast Discussion — the real forecast, written 3 to 4 times a day by the meteorologist on shift — into plain English. The discussion is where a forecaster explains their reasoning: which models disagree, what they are watching, and how confident they are. Below is the current edition for Las Vegas, with its shorthand expanded. The full experience — an AI plain-English summary beside the annotated original — loads with JavaScript, and every one of the 68 forecast offices has its own edition.

Area Forecast Discussion · National Weather Service Las Vegas (VEF) · issued Friday, November 13 at 3:53 AM PST.

Messages

Unsettled weather returns to the region today and lasts through Saturday

Additional precipitation and cooler weather arrives Monday and Tuesday and again in the second half of next week.

Discussion

The pattern changes today as a trough and low pressure dip into the region with strong southerly winds building into the mid to late morning with precipitation close to follow the initial wave of stronger winds. Wind Advisories are in effect Friday into early Saturday with 20 to 30 mph sustained southerly winds and gusts to 55 mph. The first areas affected will be the eastern Sierra by the late morning. A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for elevations above 7,000 feet in the Eastern Sierra for Friday into Saturday afternoon. Around a foot of new snow will be possible in the Sierra Crest, and 5 to 10 inches of snow expected between 7,000 ft and 9,500 ft. Rain chances and winds spread across the region into Friday afternoon. Rain shadowing and a poor moisture feed will prevent much in the way of rainfall in the desert valleys, but still offer some measurable amounts for higher elevations. The strongest winds will favor high elevations, and will spread to the lower valleys in the eastern portions of the forecast area, but the western half wont see the hazardously windy conditions. Winds ease through Saturday and rain looks to exit that night, leading to calmer conditions for Sunday.

Back to unsettled weather for Monday as a low pressure builds into the area early that morning and spreads through the day. The better feed of moisture for this system doesn't line up until after the low pressure center crosses the Sierra, limiting Sierra snow potential, but leading to better rainfall for the rest of the region. Rain looks to become widespread into Monday afternoon for the areas east of the Sierra Nevada, but rain rates look to stay light to moderate. Rainfall totals from Monday into Tuesday look modest (0.10 to 0.25") for all but Northeast Clark Co, Mohave Co, and Lincoln Co which will range from 0.30 to 1.0" after showers exit to the east. Wednesday will offer another pause in rain, but another batch of showers arrives early Thursday and could linger into next Friday.

This is the plain-text edition, decoded without AI so it loads anywhere. Read the whole Las Vegas discussion at /o/VEF/, see what changed since the last one, or open The National Desk for where the weather is today.