Storm drops a few showers in Las Vegas, snow in mountains
The Las Vegas region saw its first winter storm this weekend as two potent weather systems are hitting the valley, according to the National Weather Service.
Saturday’s storm moved into the valley early with temperatures about 8 to 10 degrees cooler than Friday and with winds gusting to 41 mph near the airport.
The heavy winds and dark clouds dropped about 4 inches of snow at the fire station on Mount Charleston, at about 7,400 feet, according to meteorologist Trevor Boucher.
Weekend Weather = 🌬️+🌧️ +❄️
Who's excited??
- Gusty winds will continue thru the wknd
- Scattered showers/snow showers [best chances Sunday]
- Accumulating snow of 3-6" above 5000 ft across southern NV & northwest AZ on Sunday#VegasWeather #NVwx #CAwx #AZwx pic.twitter.com/BHSQiRnxTR— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) November 7, 2020
Dry spell at 200 days
Although some rain was seen in the valley Saturday afternoon, it did not officially record measurable rainfall at the McCarran International Airport, where the National Weather Service takes its measurements, Boucher said.
But there is still a chance that weather service will record rain, as another round of moisture is expected in the valley on Sunday, Boucher said.
“The way it moved over made a pretty good amount of precipitation up in the mountains,” he said. “There’s one last pass we have tomorrow to potentially break the streak.”
The high temperature for Saturday was reached at 1 a.m., when the valley sat at 70 degrees. The highest temperature during daylight hours was 59 degrees and was expected to drop to 46 overnight.
Stronger system Sunday
The stronger system will arrive Sunday, bringing another dump of snow on the mountain.
“It’s dropping all the way down from Canada and will bring very cold air,” weather service meteorologist Clay Morgan said.
The chance for rain is pegged at 40 percent for the valley.
Sunday’ high temperature will be around 55 with a chance of sprinkles before 10 a.m., then showers likely until 4 p.m. Skies will otherwise be partly sunny, with winds of 12 to 23 mph gusting up 32 mph.
A winter weather advisory is in effect for the region from 1 a.m. Sunday to 4 a.m. Monday and a wind advisory is in effect between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday.
“We weren’t expecting winds to get this high today,” Boucher said Saturday night. “We’re doing a wind advisory during the daylight hours.”
The bluster of the first storms of the season will subside on Monday, but temperatures will only rise to the lower 60s through the week, Morgan said.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writers Katelyn Newberg and Sabrina Schnur contributed to this report.
