Rain and snow may delay your drive to Las Vegas today.
The Department of Public Safety Wednesday evening closed northbound US 93, the main route to Las Vegas, due to hazardous road conditions. It reopened overnight, but the Nevada transportation department continued Thursday to ask motorists to be cautious.
Motorists may obtain current road conditions in Arizona by calling 511 or online at www.Az511.Com. The Nevada Department of Transportation also is providing driving alerts at www.nevadadot.com.
Flights resumed in and out of Las Vegas, but schools and highways remained closed Thursday after a record-setting snowfall coated marquees on the Strip, weighed down palm trees and blanketed surrounding mountain areas.
The city awoke to clear weather after a storm that left 3.6 inches at McCarran International Airport. It was biggest December snowfall on record there, and the worst for any month since a 7›-inch accumulation in January 1979, forecasters said.
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The storm left heavy wet accumulations of snow along the famed Strip. At least one carport toppled under the accumulated weight, authorities said, and motorists in Henderson parked their cars and walked home when tires spun as they tried to navigate slippery uphill climbs.
Airlines resumed flights Thursday after canceling dozens of them late Wednesday, McCarran airport spokesman Jerry Pascual said.
“Visibility has lifted. The outlook for the day is much better,” Pascual said as the sun rose Thursday. Pascual said just one flight had gotten out overnight and stranded travelers were forced to sleep on lounge seats and floors at the nation’s sixth-busiest airport.
The winter storm that walloped most of northern Arizona overnight was still dumping light snow in the high country on Thursday morning.
A winter storm warning for areas above 5,000 feet remained in effect until noon, according to the National Weather Service. In southeastern Arizona, a winter storm warning is in effect through 5 p.m.
Snow was widespread in the state’s higher elevations, with 24-hour accumulations reaching 10 inches in Flagstaff by daybreak. The weather service said another two to three inches is expected before the storm begins clearing at midday.
The weather service said between 6 and 10 inches could pile up in the Graham and Greenlee county mountains in southeastern Arizona.
In Phoenix, scattered storm clouds still hung around, but much of the sky was crystal clear after a rainy night.
Road crews were plowing major highways in northern Arizona, but one to three inches of packed snow and ice remained on the roads and motorists should drive very slowly, Arizona Department of Transportation spokesman Rod Wigman said.
Besides Flagstaff, Wigman said roads were snowpacked in Page, Gap, Fredonia, Williams and Tuba City. Interstate 17 is snowpacked for 30 miles south of Flagstaff and Interstate 40 was snowpacked from Ash Fork west of Williams to Two Guns 20 miles east of Flagstaff.
Road crews should make quick work of the packed snow and ice once the sun reappears, Wigman said. That could happen by early afternoon.
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