Stormy pattern to continue in Southern Nevada 10 more days

Wednesday, March 1, 2000 | 11 a.m.

The weather delivered a dazzling white dusting of snow in Red Rock Canyon on Tuesday, but didn't break any Southern Nevada records.

For those enjoying the soggy skies, the stormy pattern for the area is expected to continue for 10 more days. Then temperatures are forecast to be above the normal range of 44-degree lows and 68-degree highs through May with drier weather this spring.

For this week, though, expect more rain and a chance of thunderstorms on Thursday afternoon through Monday, National Weather Service forecasters said today.

The wet weather is due to a split jet stream coming in from the Pacific Ocean. Just like banks of a river, the split stream funnels storms into California and then Nevada.

As the storm system arrived in the Las Vegas Valley on Tuesday it kicked up showers and steady winds of around 20 mph. Wind gusts of up to 37 mph were recorded on the east side of town.

As scattered showers continued into the evening, the weather service reported a lightning strike in Red Rock Canyon, but the storms weakened by midnight.

Temperatures today are expected to reach a high near 60 degrees with lows in the lower 40s tonight.

The official weather station at McCarran International Airport picked up 0.02 of an inch of rain on Tuesday, making last month the sixth-wettest February in Southern Nevada's history.

The area received a total of 1.59 inches of rain in February, which included an extra day because of leap year.

The average amount of rain from Jan. 1 to the end of February for the Las Vegas Valley is 0.95 of an inch, National Weather Service meteorologist John Adair said.

The weather service issued a snow advisory at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday for Southern Nevada's mountains above 6,000 feet. The fast-moving storm from California began dropping snow in the mountains and a trace of rain in the valley by 5 p.m.

The storm dumped about 5 inches at the Kyle Canyon fire station and up to 6 inches at the ski lodge on Mount Charleston, meteorologist Charlie Schlott said.

"It's been going really good for about the past week," said Brenda Sorrels at the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort, which had a slow start to its ski season because of unseasonably warm and dry weather in December.

During December and January, Westerners enjoyed balmy weather with almost no rain or snowfall. Southern Nevada nearly set a record for the most days without measurable rainfall. That dry spell broke on Feb. 10 after 140 days without rain. Weather service gauges had last captured 0.01 of an inch on Sept. 22.

It's been drier for longer in the Las Vegas Valley, including 145 days without rain in 1944 and 143 consecutive days without a drop in 1950.