Historic Snowstorm Blankets Las Vegas
Tourists, some in shorts and sandals, tromped through the snow on the Las Vegas Strip on Wednesday to take once-in-a-lifetime photographs of the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign covered in snow. The historic snow started falling in the Las Vegas Valley around noon on Wednesday, and by 4 PM many areas were reporting an accumulation of 1 to 2 inches covering all of Las Vegas and much of the Mojave Desert to the south and west of the city, according to local CBS affiliate Channel 8 News.
The last time Las Vegas saw this much snow was in 1979, when there was a measured 7.8 inches of accumulation at McCarran International Airport, Channel 8 News reported.
Residents in the outer suburbs nearer the mountains reported up to 5 inches of accumulation by nightfall. Traffic slowed to a crawl on the city highways during the afternoon rush hour, with Channel 8 reporting power outtages and traffic lights out near Rancho and I-95 on the northside. Nevada Power reported that about 2000 customers were out of power. Traffic coming in and out of Las Vegas was at a near standstill, with interstates closed to traffic heading toward California and Arizona.
Southwest Airlines, the largest air carrier at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, cancelled all flights going in and out of Las Vegas due to reduced visibility. A limited number of flights managed to land throughout the afternoon, but most were cancelled or diverted to other airports.
Local residents were out at Desert Breeze Park with sleds, boogie boards and intertubes enjoying the rare winter weather.
By nightfall much of the snowfall had turned to a wintery mix of snow and rain, with many areas reporting rain only. According to Channel 8 News, freezing temperatures are expected overnight. Icy roadways are expected for tonight and Thursday morning.
Published by Jae Gravley
Jae is a writer, teacher and adventurer who has traveled the country from coast to coast. In the past 10 years, she and her cat, Merlin, have lived in 11 different cities and one state park. She currently re... View profile
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11 Comments
Post a CommentThanks to everyone for your great comments. I moved to Las Vegas to get away from the snow and cold weather, but apparently there's no escape. We're back to beautiful blue skies and the temperature is climbing. We should be out of freezing temperatures this weekend. The mountains look so pretty all covered with snow.
Darn global warming...
Nice reporting, Jae. I think articles like this will get you lots of readers. It is v ery cold here in LA, too. My sweetie just arrived from Maine and wants to go to the beach, poor dear. Keep up the good writing and stay warm in Las Vegas.
Wow! This is a trip! I know this wasn't expected! Congratulations on being featured on the front page of AC!
Excellent report and great accompanying image.
cool photo.
Cool!!
Cool to see snow on the palm trees. Thanks for sharing.
When I woke up this morning, all the snow was gone, and we have beautiful blue skies. It's like it never even happened. That's what happened after Monday's snow as well.
I am from vegas and find it so hard to believe that this is going on there. Im now in Tn. Without a drop of snow and am so jealous thanks for the good read!