STORM BRINGS SNOW, RAIN TO VALLEY THIS WEEKEND

Get ready for some more white stuff — and much-needed rain.

Up to two feet of snow is expected to fall on Mount Charleston this weekend in the first of several weather systems expected to move through the valley in the next three or four days.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for the Spring Mountain range, in effect until 6 p.m. Saturday.

Meanwhile, most of the valley will see rain Saturday, up to half an inch. The high is expected to reach only 51 degrees, about 10 degrees below normal.

More rain is expected Saturday night, with showers tapering off Sunday.

"We're in a pattern that's basically an open door for systems to move across the area," said weather service meteorologist Mike Kennedy.

The Mount Charleston area is expecting to get a lot more snow this weekend.

"It looks fantastic," said Craig Baldwin, base operations manager for Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort. "It's wonderland up here again."

The resort has endured a few weeks of above-average temperatures, but by Friday afternoon, 5 inches of snow had already fallen on the resort, Baldwin said.

Travel up to the mountain will be restricted to vehicles with four-wheel drive or snow chains.

Las Vegas police will have checkpoints set up to make sure vehicles traveling on state routes 156 and 157 will be able to traverse the roads. Police are expecting traffic gridlock.