Usually Las Vegas keeps nature under control for tourists. You can't look into the sky on the Strip and see the stars; only resort lights are visible. About all of the real world you need to face is the walk from the valet to the resort door, and even that limited engagement with outdoors is transformed by heat lamps in the winter and misters in the summer.

Las Vegas is all about defying nature.

We offer faux lakes and water shows in the midst of a barren desert. The possibility of Las Vegas actually running out of water won't change the illusion of plentiful resorts.

Within resorts there are all sorts of microclimates. There are shark tanks at Mandalay Bay and the Golden Nugget. The Bellagio has a plush greenhouse. Lion and tiger habitats are at the MGM Grand and Mirage. Anyway, the point is that nature is used as a harnessed and controlled attraction in Las Vegas; except for pools in the summer and walking the Strip, tourists rarely face the actual forces of nature here.

But yesterday was an exception. In a one-hour period, just after rush hour, the temperature dropped 20 degrees -- from a comfy 70 to 54 degrees. But it was the desert wind that made for a night I will not soon forget.