Heavy rain remains a question for LV

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003 | 11 a.m.

Clouds will continue to increase over Southern Nevada today, and weather forecasters expect some rain to fall after midnight and continue through Wednesday and Thursday.

Traces of rain were recorded by 11 a.m. at McCarran International Airport, the official recording station for the National Weather Service, meteorologist Charlie Schlott said this morning. One inch of snow was recorded at 9 a.m. at Mount Charleston.

More rain in the Las Vegas Valley and snow in the mountains were expected Wednesday, he said.

A strong Pacific storm off the coast of Baja California and Southern California was bringing the wet weather, National Weather Service forecaster Steve Downs said.

Any rain that falls here won't make a dent in the drought that has gripped the West, which has lowered Lake Mead to 1,153 feet as of Monday, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. The drought is entering its fourth year.

The storm system is expected to linger over Southern Nevada and could bring thunderstorms to southern Clark County on Thursday and into Friday, Downs said.

While the valley could receive up to an inch of rain through the week, it is too soon to predict if Southern Nevada is in for a soaker, he said.

"The storm could stall over Southern California," Downs said, in which case Las Vegas would stay cloudy and cool but dry.

Temperatures are expected to stay in the mid-50s to 60 degrees in the daytime and drop into the mid-30s to low 40s at night. Higher elevations could see lows in the 20s.

While some meteorologists have predicted more rain this spring from a weak to moderate El Nino, Downs said this storm system isn't a signal that the weather phenomenon has arrived.

During stronger El Ninos, a patch of warm water in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru funnels storm systems into central California, drenching it and bringing heavier than normal rain to the Southwest, he said.

"So far, it hasn't shown much," Downs said of this El Nino. The last one ended in 1998.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said last week that instead of impacting the weather in March or April, the El Nino might appear this month.