Monday, Jan. 3, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.
A new winter storm plunged south along California's coast Sunday, bringing more rain to the Las Vegas Valley and heavy snow in the surrounding mountains early this morning.
Measurable rain began at about 6:40 a.m. today and is expected to continue through Tuesday evening, National Weather Service meteorologist Clay Morgan said. A hazardous weather warning has been issued for the Las Vegas Valley but forecasters do not expect to see any flash flooding in the area.
"There's no indication of any widespread, heavy, sudden downpours at all," Morgan said. "It looks like the really heavy duty moisture got pushed east toward Arizona."
Meterologists had recorded 0.15 an inch of rain by about 10:30 a.m. at the McCarran International Airport gauge this morning, but a half-inch to an inch of rain was expected to fall in the valley by Tuesday afternoon, Morgan said.
Some areas of the valley were already measuring rainfall up to 0.12 of an inch, according to the Clark County Regional Flood Control District raig gauges.
Temperatures will drop into the 40s for highs and the 30s for nighttime lows, the National Weather Service said.
The storm system this morning was "dropping south, following the coast of California," National Weather Service meteorologist Donald Maker said, describing the latest in a series of winter storms that soaked Southern Nevada last week.
A heavy snow warning for up to two feet of new powder was issued for the Spring Mountains, west of Las Vegas, and in the Sheep Range, north of the city. The snow warning is in effect through Tuesday morning.
The U.S. Forest Service continued its extreme avalanche warning through Monday.
The avalanche warning is in effect for all backcountry areas, including Kyle and Lee canyons in the Spring Mountains, district ranger Tim Short said.
The warning does not include the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort, which gained 30 inches of fresh powder in last week's storm.
"Safety awareness is our No. 1 priority," Short said. The ski and snowboard resort, he noted, has its own avalanche control program.
The rain led to an increase in traffic accidents this morning over a typical Monday, Sgt. Mike Nihei of the Nevada Highway Patrol said, but no serious collisions or injuries had been reported as of 10:15 a.m.
Troopers had responded to about 20 traffic accidents from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. this morning, Nihei said. Metro responded to about 47, including 11 with injuries, but no deaths were reported, Sgt. Chris Jones said.
Last week's storms pushed the annual rainfall total for Las Vegas to 7.76 inches, making it the fourth wettest year on record.
Average annual rainfall for the valley is 4.45 inches.
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