Las Vegas Sun

February 11, 2012

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Snow, hail, rain blustering into Las Vegas area today

Winter storm warning issued for Spring Mountains, Sheep Range, Red Rock Canyon

Image

Steve Marcus

Showgirls Candice Dickerson, left, and Meda Bell try to keep warm as they wait for a news conference at the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign Tuesday, March 9, 2010.

By (contact)

Published Tuesday, March 9, 2010 | 6:14 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, March 9, 2010 | 11:16 a.m.

Click to enlarge photo

Sam Morris

Heavy cloud cover hangs over the Las Vegas Strip Tuesday, March 9, 2010. A storm system moving through the valley has brought with it wind, rain and snow in Southern Nevada.

Dress for wet, cold and windy weather today — a strong storm moving across southern Nevada has been producing snow, ice pellets, small hail and light rain across the Las Vegas area today, according to the National Weather Service.

About 11:15 a.m., small ice pellets and snow showers were falling in the Green Valley area of Henderson. And there were some reports of snow in the southwestern part of the valley, too, near the Clark County 215 Frontage Road and Rainbow Boulevard.

The weather service said that snow will fall in elevations 3,000 feet and above today.

The storm system will head across northern Arizona tonight, followed by another cold area of low pressure moving across the Great Basin on Wednesday, forecasters said.

Then high pressure will build over the region Thursday and Friday for dry weather and warmer temperatures, they said.

A winter storm warning and winter weather advisories were issued for parts of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California today.

A winter storm warning is in effect until 3 p.m. today for the Spring Mountains, the Sheep Range and Red Rock Canyon.

Light snow began after midnight over the Spring Mountains and a band of moderate to heavy snow showers were producing snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour this morning, forecasters said. Isolated thunderstorms could produce intense snowfall rates of more than 2 inches per hour, they said. The snow showers will taper off and shift southeast during the afternoon, they said.

The total snowfall from the storm was expected to be 6 to 12 inches in elevations above 5,000 fees and 4 to 8 inches below 5,000 feet, they said.

Forecasters said snow could affect driving along State Rout 160 between Las Vegas and Pahrump. Kyle and Lee Canyon roads will also likely require chains or four-wheel drive vehicles, they said.

The storm was bringing in winds from the west at 20 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 45 mph this morning in the mountains, they said.

McCarran International Airport recorded wind gusts overnight of up to 37 mph. At 4:56 a.m., winds at McCarran were gusting at 26 mph from the southwest and a trace of rain was recorded there. Around the valley just before 5 a.m. winds were gusting at 40 mph at Red Rock Canyon and 32 mph at North Las Vegas Airport and Nellis Air Force Base.

The overnight low temperature at McCarran was 42 degrees. The normal morning low for today's date is 46 degrees and the record low was 27 degrees, set in 1964.

Temperatures just before 6 a.m. were 43 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 43 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 40 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures will rise to 51 degrees by 9 a.m., to 54 degrees by noon and to 56 degrees by 3 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 68 degrees and the record high is 87 degrees, set in 1989.

Tonight, temperatures will fall to 52 degrees by 6 p.m., to 48 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 45 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Wednesday's morning low will be 41 degrees and Wednesday's high will be 55 degrees, they said.

McCarran had .1 of an inch of rain on Monday, bringing the total rainfall for the year to 3.34 inches, which is 1.88 inches above normal.

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