Snowy Nevada weather to be followed by hard freeze

Friday, Jan. 12, 2007 | 5:37 a.m.

Temperatures began heading toward zero across snowy northern Nevada on Friday while forecasters were calling for snow in the south that could send cabs skidding on the Las Vegas Strip.

Chains or snow tires still were required across much of northern Nevada and the Sierra, but it was the cold that was beginning to be the weather news.

Temperatures were not expected to climb above freezing across the northern two-thirds of the state and lows were forecast to hover around zero early Saturday.

Even Las Vegas felt the chill with a low of 34 that is expected to be well below freezing at daybreak Saturday.

The Las Vegas Valley was to go under a snow advisory starting at 2 p.m. and lasting through the evening. Up to two inches of snow could drop on the usually mild Las Vegas area.

"It's going to stay cold for the next two to three days," said meteorologist Jim Wallmann with the National Weather Service in Reno. "Looking at the temperatures, we are about 15 to 20 degrees below normal for this time of year."

The cold was ushered in by a disturbance sweeping south from the Bering Strait that caused a traffic nightmare south of Reno.

The city itself received just enough snow to coat roads with ice. To the south, Carson City received about 3 inches while 4 inches fell in the hilly stretch of U.S. 395 from Topaz Lake to Gardnerville.

Police in Nevada and California reported relatively few traffic problems Thursday but braced for the potentially dangerous combination of slick, icy roads and busy traffic associated with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

"We're just kind of getting ready to go here," officer Steve Skeen of the California Highway Patrol's Truckee office told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The Nevada Highway Patrol reported a few spinouts and a three-car accident Thursday morning on Pyramid Highway that resulted in minor injuries.

"Just drive extra cautiously," NHP Trooper Chuck Allen said. "Because of these low temperatures, the snow isn't melting, and conditions are slippery."

No major problems were reported at the Reno airport, where equipment quickly removed snow that fell on runways and taxiways, spokesman Brian Kulpin said. Six arriving flights and five departures were delayed because of the weather.

"The good news is this looks great for the skiers who are arriving here for the long weekend," Kulpin said.