Storm leaves icy roads, bitter cold in northern Nevada

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2002 | 12:01 p.m.

Snow-choked highways across northern Nevada will see little melting any time this week as bitter cold moved into the state, dropping temperatures to their lowest readings in more than a year.

Lows on Monday ranged from a record minus 18 in Eureka to minus 14 in Elko, minus 12 at South Lake Tahoe, Calif., 12 in Reno and Winnemucca, 13 in Tonopah and 18 in Fallon. But cold was Wildhorse at 36 below.

Eureka's previous record for Jan. 29 was minus 12 set in 1957.

Las Vegas was just above freezing at 35, but was under a rare snow advisory for Tuesday afternoon and night. Forecasters were calling for an inch of snow on the valley floor and 3-6 inches around Mount Charleston by morning.

Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Alan Davidson said in Las Vegas that his agency wasn't taking special measures ahead of the storm, but was prepared to close roads if the situation deteriorated.

A chilly sunshine glistened on white roads Tuesday in Reno, where Monday's storm produced an icy layer topped by snow.

"It was absolutely miserable," Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Patrick McGill said. "It's really slick all over the place."

Reno snow removal crews were making headway by working 12-hour shifts, focusing first on major roads and school bus routes.

By midafternoon, all major highway were free of travel restrictions except U.S. 50 over Spooner Summit, the Mount Rose Highway, U.S. 395 south of Gardnerville to the California state line and California 89 on the west shore of Lake Tahoe. The road was intermittently closed for avalanche control at Bliss State Park.

Wednesday's forecast calls for lows in the single digits in northwest Nevada for the first time in more than a year, readings well below zero in the east and below freezing in the unusually snowy south.

While numbing, the readings are far short of records for the month: minus 43 in Elko, minus 27 in Ely, minus 24 in Winnemucca, minus 16 in Reno and 8 above in Las Vegas.