Valley getting wetter, mountains whiter

Stephen Curran

Friday, Jan. 7, 2005 | 8:59 a.m.

A storm system nicknamed "the Pineapple Express" was expected to roll into the Las Vegas Valley today and drop a little piece of the tropics on the region, a National Weather Service spokesman said.

The storm system, which pummeled the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday night, continued into Bishop, Calif., where it brought nearly white-out conditions early this morning, Brian Fuis, a Weather Service spokesman, said.

Valley residents can count on the system, which brings moisture from Hawaii, to drop up to 2 inches of rain on them by Monday, Fuis said.

By 7:30 a.m. today the storm was drenching Pahrump and Needles, Calif., he said.

"We're getting the first wave now," Fuis said.

Temperatures in the valley are also expected to stay cool this weekend but will probably not drop below freezing, he said. Highs this weekend will likely range from the upper 30s to the lower 40s.

Meanwhile the storms have prompted a storm warning for the Spring Mountains west of Las Vegas and the Sheep Range north of the valley from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. today.

Weather forecasters expect snow to accumulate above 5,000 feet in the mountains while the rain falls in the valley.

By Saturday night, the storm is expected to have dropped almost 2 feet of fresh snow on Mount Charleston. This morning there was already about two and a half feet of packed snow on the mountain.

These storms will be the latest in a string that white-peaked the mountains and soaked the valley in past weeks. Rain on the Monday after New Year's weekend caused spot flooding throughout the valley.