Storm brings rain, snow to Southern Nevada

As light rain dampened Mark Tessier’s baseball cap Monday afternoon, his bright disposition contrasted with the gloomy skies above.

Tessier, a district manager for a company that dispenses water at valley strip-mall locations, had just learned that the water stand at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Alexander Road did more business than usual.

That discovery prompted him to give what a meteorologist would call a lousy weather report.

“It’s a sunshiny day,” Tessier said.

In reality, grey clouds and sporadic rainfall sent Las Vegas valley residents searching for their umbrellas.

A storm surged from Southern California and brought rain to the valley and 6 inches of snow to the Spring Mountains.

Monday’s precipitation made February a wetter month than usual in the Las Vegas Valley. Meteorologist David Gomberg called it the area’s “most significant storm so far this season.”

The storm bumped rainfall up to 0.77 of an inch for the month of February, exceeding the 30-year normal of 0.69 of an inch for the valley, recorded at McCarran International Airport.

“It’s not real unusual,” said meteorologist John Salmen. “We get these storms rolling in every once in a while.”

Rain in the valley and snow in the mountains is expected today but in scattered amounts, Salmen said. The weather system will clear out of the valley early Tuesday and make way for warmer temperatures by mid-week.

Temperatures in the 70s are expected for the weekend.

A winter storm warning was issued for the mountainous areas of Southern Nevada, where accumulations of 10 to 18 inches of snow were predicted Monday.

The highest rainfall totals for the day were recorded at the North Las Vegas airport where 0.14 of an inch accumulated.

The Nevada Highway Patrol said there were no road closures or major accidents because of the inclement weather.

The storm also brought heavy rain and snow to sections of Southern California.

The weather service posted winter storm warnings for the Sierra Nevada and issued flood advisories from the San Francisco Bay Area south to the Los Angeles region.

The California Highway Patrol said snow closed a section of Interstate 5 in the mountains north of Los Angeles. Interstate 15 was closed through Cajon Pass. It opened Monday afternoon, but the highway department required tire chains on Interstate 80.

Rain washed out Monday’s final round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament. The storm also renewed fears of mudslides on hillsides stripped by last year’s wildfires in California.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.