A dusting of snow in January
Las Vegas residents woke up Tuesday to another cloudy, wet and, in some parts of the valley, snowy day. Light rain fell throughout the area overnight, with snow accumulating on the outskirts of the valley and in the surrounding mountains.
Snowfall ranged from a light dusting in some areas to up to 3 inches in parts of the Summerlin area in northwest Las Vegas. Even Mccarran International Airport and other parts of the central valley saw some flurries, according to the National Weather Service in Las Vegas.
At Arbor View High School, near the 215 Beltway and North Buffalo Drive, the football field was covered ed in snow in the morning. The Alexander Dawson School campus in Summerlin was blanketed with snow.
Many children took to streets and parks to play, including siblings Sophia, 10, and Jaslene, 8, Dejesus. The sisters built a small snowman that melted by 10:30 a.m. at their Summerlin apartment complex, and they still had enough snow to playfully throw at each other.
“They jumped out of the car, scooped up some snow and pelted grandma with it,” said Lori Day, the children’s grandmother.
Instead of a full day of school, Day said teachers at Katz Elementary School told students, including the sisters, to take a break from virtual learning to enjoy the outdoors. This, after all, is a rare occurrence in Las Vegas.
“We just wanted to come outside and throw snowballs at each other,” Jaslene said.
Children weren’t the only ones playing in the snow.
Lynn Cornell took her 4-year-old dog to Woofter Family Park on Rock Springs Drive near Summerlin to play in the melting snow. The dog was ready for the weather, sporting a red doggy rain coat.
Cornell, who has lived in Las Vegas for nearly 40 years, has family living in Nebraska — where it frequently snows. “(People here) start taking pictures. You would never see that in Nebraska,” she said.
The heaviest snow in the immediate area was on Mount Charleston, which got 13 inches by 8 a.m., adding to 7 inches that piled up on Monday, said Chelsea Kryston, a Weather Service meteorologist.
It was the biggest snow of the season. December saw only about 3 inches of snow on the mountain.
The next chance for precipitation in the area will be late Thursday into Friday, when another storm system is expected. Additional snow could accumulate in the mountains above 5,000 feet, the Weather Service said.