As residents bundle up for cold, some transplants take it in stride

Friday, Jan. 12, 2007 | 6:57 a.m.

Heat radiating from a huge crackling fireplace at Davis Nursery soothes the wind-stung faces of customers looking for ways to save their plants from the cold snap.

"We've had a run on burlap, but with many plants, water works just fine," said Verna Davis, the 83-year-old owner of the nursery on Bonanza Road near Eastern Avenue. "Water freezes at 32 degrees, and that serves as excellent insulation, especially if you keep the roots real wet. You can also use old sheets or even the shirt off your back to protect the foliage - it'll work."

This is all good advice in a town not accustomed to forecasts of arctic cold fronts and valley-floor snow, but where low temperatures are expected to dip into the 20s this weekend.

Davis has seen a number of frigid Southern Nevada winters, like when her breath froze into tiny crystals and floated to the ground.

There was the blizzard of '35, and that cold snap of '48. As recently as 1990, she says, the stretch of cold weather was so bad she lost a lot of her plants.

So old hands like her know that snow happens.

Across town, customers at Meads Hardware on Lake Mead Boulevard east of Lamb Boulevard are greeted at the cash register by a display of knit hats. By the front door are space heaters ($50 to $150), faucet covers, pipe wrap tape and pipe insulation kits ($7 to $20).

Manager Stu Teich warns customers that any plumbing that is exposed to outdoor elements should be covered to assure it doesn't freeze. Leaving a faucet trickling at night to protect pipes is a myth - "the pipes can still freeze" if they are not well insulated, he said.

Some shops are reporting brisk sales of winter clothing. At the Salvation Army's 10 thrift stores, long-sleeve clothes are selling like crazy, spokesman Charlie Desiderio said.

But what some people consider "really cold" still isn't as harsh as what occurs elsewhere, some transplants to Las Vegas are quick to point out.

Kevin Wilson, 40, a Las Vegas resident of 15 years who came from Indiana, says people need to be tough. Nothing here can be worse than the 20-below temperatures he braved in the Midwest.

"Those temperatures were not safe to be out in," he said. "This cold spell here is nothing."