Rain expected to visit throughout the week

Monday, Feb. 21, 2005 | 9:04 a.m.

After a brief break in heavy rainfall Sunday, rain and snow storms returned to Southern Nevada today and are expected to hang around through the week, weather forecasters said.

As a storm system spinning off the California coast meets a new weather-maker plunging south from the Pacific Northwest, the Las Vegas Valley is due for up to an inch of rain through Tuesday, the National Weather Service predicted.

The Spring Mountains could receive up to 18 inches of new snow above 5,000 feet in the same period, the Weather Service said.

So far this year, the valley needs only another 1.08 inches of rain by the end of February to reach the average rainfall of 4.49 inches for an entire year, Weather Service meteorologist Andy Gorelow said Sunday. Since Jan. 1 the valley has received 3.41 inches of rain through Sunday.

Friday's 0.41 inch of rain recorded at McCarran International Airport broke the record for Feb. 18 set in 1969 with 0.31 of an inch, Gorelow said.

The Weather Service has issued a winter storm alert for the Spring Mountains west of Las Vegas and the Sheep Mountains north of the valley from 4 a.m. Monday through 4 a.m. Tuesday because of the amount of snowfall expected.

Monday afternoon and evening there is a chance for an isolated thunderstorm, like those that swept across Boulder City and Henderson on Saturday, Gorelow said.

Temperatures are not expected to climb above the mid 50s until the end of the week.