La Nina chill sends shiver through valley

Mary Manning and Ed Koch

Tuesday, Dec. 22, 1998 | 11:02 a.m.

Temperatures were so low overnight that natural gas could not get to some people's homes in outlying areas, leaving residents in some valley homes to awaken this morning to icebox conditions.

Southwest Gas officials were working today to rectify a problem with low pressure that occurred at the extreme ends of its pipeline at Summerlin and in Henderson, affecting 270 customers, mostly residential homes.

"Because of the high use and high demands from the cold weather, the pressure was low, and we had to turn those meters off so the pressure could rebuild," Southwest Gas spokesman Roger Buehrer said.

"We are bringing in extra technicians to relight the pilot lights today. And we have taken action to tie those systems in with other systems that were not as impacted to prevent this from happening again."

The areas affected were 200 homes in Henderson near Race Track Road and Newport Drive and 70 homes in Summerlin near Fort Apache Road and Cheyenne Avenue.

In about 220 homes, the systems were designed to automatically shut off when the pressure was low, and did so. They will restart on their own as the pressure rebuilds, Buehrer said, noting that pilot lights in the other 50 homes will have to be relit by Southwest Gas technicians.

"We started getting calls about the low pressure at 6 a.m. from people who woke up to cold homes," Buehrer said. "As the day gets warmer and service demand drops, the pressure will rebuild. For those who were not home, we left cards to call us so that we can return to relight the pilot lights."

Southwest Gas serves 350,000 residential and business customers in the Las Vegas valley.

The incident occurred eight years to the day of a big freeze that hit the valley and caused temporary curtailment of some natural gas service.

Meanwhile, weather officials said that while Las Vegas residents won't have a white Christmas, the subfreezing nighttime temperatures are expected to continue.

Southern Nevada's temperatures this week will rank as the coldest since December 1990 when freezing temperatures broke records. The deep freeze is partly the result of a cold-water surge in the Pacific Ocean known as La Nina.

The Las Vegas Valley already challenged another 1990 record when 1 to 2 inches of snowfall were recorded Dec. 6, the most since February 1990.

When La Nina dominates the ocean's weather, arctic air more often plunges deep into the interior of the United States, sometimes chilling Southern Nevada in the process.

The National Weather Service predicts no record-shattering low temperatures, but Charlie Schlott, a meteorologist in the Las Vegas office, said, "It sure will be chilly for the next few nights."

The temperature during this morning's rush hours was about 25 degrees, with the high expected to reach about 44 and winds of five-to-15 miles per hour out of the north.

The low tonight may reach 23, with winds of 10-to-20 mph out of the north.

The forecast for Wednesday calls for sunny skies with a high of 45.

The extended forecast calls for a gradual warming trend beginning Thursday, with the overnight lows ranging in the mid-20s and highs in the upper 40s.

Friday and Saturday highs are expected to be in the upper 50s with lows in the low-to-mid-30s.

Temperatures for Dec. 22, 1990, included a high of 34 and low of 12, Schlott said. Normal temperatures for late December range from highs of 56 degrees to lows of 33.

The winter weather is the flip side of severe summer storms and flooding -- even a tornado -- that lashed Southern Nevada earlier this year, Larry Jensen, meteorologist in charge at the Las Vegas weather office, said.

The strongest El Nino -- or warm-water surge in the eastern Pacific Ocean -- in this century helped to create the most intense storms of the season on Sept. 11 in the Las Vegas Valley, Jensen said.

The abnormal ocean waters helped intensify and increase storms approaching California, often allowing them to spill into Southern Nevada.

Hail, flash floods and a tornado in Henderson pelted the Las Vegas Valley on the afternoon of Sept. 11.

That night, the most significant flooding since 1981 swept into the Muddy River, inundating Moapa Valley, about 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Schlott warned people who own pets and those trying to grow sensitive desert plants to protect them during this cold snap.

People growing plants in pots should move them into a garage or the house. If they are rooted in the ground, they can be covered with blankets or burlap.

Pets need a water supply that will remain liquid when the thermometer dips into the 20s at night.

The Las Vegas Valley Water District advises homeowners to protect pipes exposed outside when the thermometer dips below the freezing mark of 32 degrees. Residents should wrap exposed pipes with an insulating material before the temperature drops.

Two teenagers who went hiking in Red Rock Canyon Sunday survived a night in the bitter cold temperatures after becoming trapped on a cliff, according to Metro Police spokesman Steve Meriwether.

When they failed to return Sunday afternoon, police were notified and a search launched.

Meriwether said the teens were rescued by helicopter around 10 a.m. Monday.

"They said they survived by huddling together," said Meriwether, who noted the teens were not properly equipped for the hike and endangered themselves by being out in the sub-freezing weather.