Avalanche conditions on Mount Charleston in the Spring Mountains west of Vegas
While I was away: We had 2 ½ days of heavy rain - and snow in the surrounding mountains. The weather service said it was the biggest weather event Vegas has had since the rains of 2005. We are all just back safely from a very successful tour of military hospitals in the surrounding states. Given our military partners unknown sexual history the use of FC2s was mandatory, but no one seemed to mind and from what I could tell (and I’m a pretty good judge) the condoms didn’t hinder performance at all.
Below are some articles from the LV Sun about the flooding. We still have avalanche warnings in the Spring Mountains west of town.
The Las Vegas Sun
December 23, 2010
“While the weather in Las Vegas was sunny and in the upper 50s today, the risk for avalanches from recent heavy snow on Mount Charleston [in the Spring Mountains west of the city] was upgraded this morning from an advisory to a warning, prompting Metro police to go door-to-door to help residents evacuate. Police made contact with 18 residents, Clark County officials said. There were three snow slides on the mountain overnight, which occurred in the Echo and Cathedral subdivisions, Clark County officials said. Residents on the mountain were being “strongly urged” to leave their homes and go somewhere safe.”
The Las Vegas Sun
December 22, 2010
By Erin Dostal, Cara McCoy, Dave Toplikar
Another day of storms has closed roads throughout the Las Vegas Valley, caused a power outage in the Mount Charleston area and prompted a second day of closures at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. In northeastern Clark County, heavy rains caused minor damage of several homes along the Virgin River in Mesquite.
A flash flood warning has been extended for north-central Clark County, with water up to 3 feet deep running Wednesday morning across Warm Springs Road along the Pahranagat Wash in the northern valley, near Moapa.
The National Weather Service is reporting flash flooding east of the Hoover Dam on U.S. Highway 93 — an area where heavy rain is expected through much of the afternoon. Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chelita Rojas said there is no similar damage on the Nevada side of the dam.
A flash flood watch has been in effect for Southern Nevada. Flash floods have been occurring sporadically throughout the region on Wednesday. Although the heavy rains have moved east of the area, weather officials said the runoff from previous rain would likely continue to cause flash flood problems.
A flash flood watch continues throughout the evening for Southern Nevada, according to weather service officials.
“This event is very anomalous just from the high moisture content that was coming in off the Pacific that brought copious amounts of rain to the valley,” said Barry Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “Typically we don’t see things quite this extreme.”
Pierce said this storm has about twice as much moisture in it as typical winter storms in Las Vegas. Much of that moisture, he said, is coming from as far away as the tropics and Hawaii.
Clark County officials say they're bracing for up to 2 inches of rain, but hope stormy weather will ease overnight. A flood warning is in effect for Clark County until 4:15 p.m.
Local law enforcement officials have reported that some roads have been flooded in the northwest part of Las Vegas.
Stephanie Street at Munson Channel was closed to traffic starting at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, county officials said. Additional road closures have been announced at Farm Road and Rainbow Boulevard, and on Twain Avenue between Industrial Road and Rio Drive, near the Las Vegas Strip.
The weather service called the warning because between .24 and .50 inches of rain was falling per hour, which could lead to flash floods in washes, forecasters said.
The weather service warned motorists that “it only takes 18 inches of swiftly moving water to sweep a vehicle off the road, and less than six inches of swiftly moving water to sweep a person of their feet.” If water covers the roadway, forecasters said, don’t drive on it.
The Red Rock Canyon scenic drive and visitor center on State Route 159 will be closed all day due to flooding and debris, BLM officials said this morning. The area also was shut down on Monday due to weather.
North Las Vegas officials have released a list of road closures, with some areas being flooded with as much as one foot of water.
Ann Road, west of Lawrence Street, has been closed, and cars are stranded on the roadway, officials said. The intersections of Grand Teton Drive and Decatur Boulevard, and Pecos Road and Cheyenne Avenue are closed, with flooding occurring in all directions.
Intersections at Lamb Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue, and Las Vegas Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue, have also closed due to flooding.
Other intersections are also flooded, but are passable with signs posted for caution, officials said. Manhole covers have slid off, causing gushing water at the intersections of Centennial Parkway and Statz Street, and Commerce Street and Palmer Street.
Streets in Henderson were mostly clear.
“We’ve put a lot of improvements into our flood channels over the past few years, but as far as today, there haven’t been any problems,” said Henderson spokeswoman Kathleen Richards. No road closures have been announced in Henderson, she said.
In more rural Clark County, other roads closed were Ranch Road, from State Route 168 to Greasewood, Elbow Canyon Road in the Bunkerville area, Bonnie Springs Road, and Arroyo Road in Blue Diamond, county officials said.
At 5:36 a.m., local law enforcement reported that widespread flooding is occurring throughout the Pahrump area. The National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated that locally heavy rain would continue over that area, which would also add to the flooding.
Areas affected included Pahrump, the Desert Retreat RV Resort and State Route 160 on the west side of the Spring Mountains.
Power still out on Mount Charleston
About 300 NV Energy customers on Mount Charleston were still without power Wednesday morning, with crews likely spending the next four days putting up power lines to restore electricity.
The Red Cross announced Wednesday it would be opening an emergency shelter at 4 p.m. at James H. Bilbray Elementary School, 9370 Brent Lane, to accommodate residents without power. Volunteers will be providing cots and hot meals.
NV Energy said it could take days to fully repair the lines on Mount Charleston. At minimum, it will take crews an additional 72 hours to get main lines back up, said NV Energy spokesman Mark Severts.
“Even after that, you may have some residents without power to individual homes,” he said, saying lines going into residences have likely also been damaged by the storm.
“In terms of a Mount Charleston outage, this is the worst our crews have in memory,” Severts said. “This is the worst in history from the perspective of NV Energy and Nevada Power.”
The biggest cause of the outages is downed power lines, Severts said. Most of the power lines have fallen due to falling tress and branches, and because snow and ice built up on them, causing wires snapped under the weight, he said.
NV Energy crews did not work through the night because of safety concerns, Severts said.
“With it continuing to snow heavily, they’re making no progress yet,” he said, adding that a significant amount of additional damage had occurred overnight.
At 3 p.m., the first NV Energy crews are expected to return from the mountain with status updates, Severts said.
Flash flood watch
A flash flood watch continues through this evening for portions of northwest Arizona, California and southern Nevada, including the Las Vegas Valley.
Forecasters say occasional rain will continue through the day, with isolated thunderstorms producing locally heavy rainfall. Rainfall rates could be between one and two inches an hour, they said.
The rain will cause ponding of water in low-lying areas, as well as rapidly flowing water in normally dry washes, they said. Flows of water and mud or debris might occur over area roads, they said. Travelers, campers and residents should be aware of the potential for flash flooding, forecasters said.
Flooding in Mesquite - possible flooding along the Virgin River.
Meteorologist Pierce said the Virgin River, which caused flooding in Mesquite, crested above 16 feet Tuesday night. It will likely crest — meaning reach its highest level before flooding over — again Thursday morning at 14 feet, he said.
Officials there said water levels dropped overnight after two homes were slightly damaged Tuesday.
Len DeJoria, a fire prevention officer for Mesquite, has been working with emergency crews. About 30 homes in Mesquite were evacuated voluntarily Tuesday night. Only one of those homes sustained significant damage, DeJoria said.
There has been localized pooling and flooding of water throughout the city, DeJoria said, but most streets are open and residents have been released to return home.
“It has slowed down somewhat for now,” DeJoria said of the weather.
There is a flood warning in effect through Thursday evening for the Virgin River and Beaver Dam Wash in northeastern Clark and north central Mohave counties, the weather service said.
Mesquite Police had asked residents to voluntarily evacuate an area east of Sage Way between East Mesquite Boulevard and East Old Mill Road, forecasters said.
An evacuation center was set up at the Virgin Valley High School. Sandbags were made available at Hunter Park.
Mandatory evacuations did occur at Beaver Dam Arizona on Tuesday. Beaver Dam Wash crested at 14.7 feet at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Temperatures to stay in the 50s
At 5:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 51 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 36 degrees. The record low was 12 degrees, set in 1990.
Around the valley just before 6 a.m., temperatures were 50 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 52 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 50 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.
Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 53 degrees by 9 a.m., to 55 degrees by noon, which is expected to be the high for the day, forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 56 degrees and the record high was 68 degrees, set in 1950.
Temperatures are expected to drop to 48 degrees by 6 p.m., and remain at 48 degrees at 9 p.m. and at midnight, forecasters said.
Thursday's morning low will be 45 degrees and Thursday's high will climb to 57 degrees, they said.
Rain will lift Lake Mead water levels, but only slightly
By Joe Schoenmann
Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 12:03 p.m.
During heavy rainfall it's tempting to believe that the Las Vegas Valley's water woes have ended, that the drought is over and the multi-billion-dollar pipeline project to solve our water shortage can be halted.
Unfortunately, that's not the case.
No doubt rain is better than no rain, but Las Vegas would need a torrent of Biblical proportions to bring Lake Mead back to where it was before the drought, now in its 11th year.
Personal Comment: Well, the rains started on the 20th so we didn’t get to see the eclipse. The good news is that the casinos and my friend’s homes are ok. We had planned for flash flooding – there is a reason why some gullies are called dry ‘river beds’ or ‘washes’ – so no one should build in ‘that lovely low spot out of the wind.’ Fortunately Taryn, Gigi, Cyndi, Anya and I - plus two male dancers to take care of the women and gays - were traveling light with small costume cases, a shoe case, our slit-kits and plenty of FC2 condoms so we could get it all in the back of a thirteen passenger van. There was a problem in Texas where the commanding officer balked after originally approving our show. He wanted a sample so Anya did him wearing an FC2. But we had that happen last year in San Francisco too so it wasn’t really a surprise. After he was pleasured the show went on. The guys and girls all wanted to keep the Used FC2s as souvenirs. They really enjoyed our visits! I was so pleased that we were able to help boost their morale. Being injured and away from home at Christmas is a real downer.
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