Expect rain in valley, snow on mountain for Christmas

Monday, Dec. 23, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

Kids who tear wrapping paper off bikes, roller skates or other outdoor toys on Christmas may have to wait until later in the day before taking to sidewalks and driveways.

"We're in a pretty stormy pattern right now," said Barry Pierce, a National Weather Service meteorologist. The pattern, with its origin in a low pressure system coming down from the Gulf of Alaska, has dropped temperatures and brought rain into the Las Vegas Valley since last week, he said.

And the trend is expected to continue through this week, including an early Christmas shower.

"Rain will come in on Christmas Eve between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. and should improve by early (Wednesday) afternoon," Pierce said.

While it may be only a wet Christmas in the Las Vegas Valley, a white Christmas can be had on Mt. Charleston. The conditions have been right for snow on the slopes. The Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard resort was reporting light snow falling this morning and a trace of new snow overnight for a base of 16 to 24 inches.

Cold has been the order of the day down in the valley and the low temperatures are forecast to be below or at freezing through Wednesday night, Pierce said.

Temperatures have been on the order of 5 to 8 degrees below normal since last week, the meteorologist said, causing officials at the service to look at their database to see if records were being set.

But even though Saturday's high temperature was 40 degrees, in 1990, the high for the same date was 35 degrees.

As for lows, last Thursday dipped to 32 degrees, but that couldn't compete with Dec. 23, 1990, when the morning low was 11 degrees.

"That year was pretty exceptional for an Arctic air mass that affected the whole West," Pierce said. "It was just damned cold everywhere.

This latest bout of weather may surprise the valley's newcomers, of which there are thousands each month.

"People don't expect it, but we can get pretty cold here in the desert," Pierce said.