Snow, rain falls on west valley as March nears end

Rain showers and some snow flakes fell Thursday afternoon on the west side of Las Vegas as a cold March heads toward an end.

Big flakes and possibly some graupel falling on Kyle Canyon Road! Minor accumulations will be possible, so drive carefully!

Images courtesy of @NVSeismoLab #nvwx pic.twitter.com/ywPqf0Y8lC

— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) March 30, 2023

A National Weather Service retweet showed large flakes and some graupel falling on Kyle Canyon Road. Another tweet showed graupel falling at the weather office on South Decatur Boulevard.

Rain gauges recorded from .04 of an inch at a few northwest valley sites to .20 of an inch near Mount Charleston.

The Scenic Loop Drive at Red Rock National Recreation Area closed early because of flurries and limited visibility.

The day’s high at the airport was expected to be near 59, but reached 57 about 12:25 p.m. before falling to 52 degrees by 1:50 p.m.

Seeing frozen precipitation at your location, but it doesn't look quite like snow? It's probably graupel!

This graphic explains the differences between frozen precipitation types such as graupel, hail, and sleet. #nvwx #azwx #cawx pic.twitter.com/lhH1z2pQJ8

— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) March 30, 2023

Light hail was observed on Kyle Canyon Road to Mount Charleston Thursday morning. Chains and snow tires are required for travel on Kyle Canyon and Lee Canyon roads.

The Friday low will be near 41 before an afternoon high near 67. Winds should stay below 10 mph.

The weekend will be close to normal temperatures with an expected high of 72 on Saturday and 78 on Sunday. But temperatures early next week are forecast to drop back to the lower 60s.

10 degrees colder than a year ago

This March has averaged 62.7 degrees (the average of the daily high and low), more than 10 degrees below last March when the average temperature was 73.1. Some high temperatures last March reached at least 90. This year only a few days have climbed into the lower 70s.

The coldest March was 1973 at 60.7 degrees, says the weather service. It also says 2023 has been the coldest start to a year in the valley in 50 years.

Record snowfall

The season’s snowfall at Lee Canyon remained at 256 inches on Wednesday, but a few inches of snow could fall Thursday.

In the Eastern Sierras, Mammoth Mountain ski resort received 28 inches of snow since Tuesday to bring the record snowfall to 870 inches at the 11,053-foot peak and 695 inches at the main lodge.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter.