It's official! Spring has been canceled, at least for the short term.
Since the start of the meteorological spring (March 1st), Las Vegas has received .49" of rain which is 0.15" ABOVE NORMAL. That's great news as we transition into our dry and windy months.
Since March 1st, 18 out of the 23 days have been colder than normal with only 4 days with highs in the 70s.
The average highs and lows for this time of year in Las Vegas are 73 and 52.
We continue to see an active weather pattern across the west coast and the Rocky Mountains thanks to the Atmospheric River or Pineapple Express.
A series of storms has delivered record-breaking snowfall across the Sierra this March and has made its way into southern Nevada.
Mammoth Mountain, CA received almost 13 feet of snow at mid-mountain this March and has extended its ski season through July according to the resort.
Lee Canyon has received almost 6 feet of snow this March and more is on the horizon.
Long-range computer models continue to bring a slow-moving storm system towards the middle of next week with more accumulating snow possible for our local mountains in southern Nevada. Most models are forecasting another 6" to 10" next week locally with 2-3 feet of snow possible across the Sierra.
Snowpack is off the charts around the region. The Upper Colorado River Basin is at 157% of today's normal. That's almost 70% higher than one year ago today.
Since January 1st, 72% of our days here in Las Vegas have been below normal when you average out the daily high and low temperatures.
63% of our daytime highs in Las Vegas this year have been colder than 60 degrees and 38% of our overnight lows were COLDER than 40 degrees.
So far in 2023, Las Vegas has reached 70 degrees or higher only 5 times with 74 being the warmest temperature which occurred on March 11th.
Through March 23rd of last year, Las Vegas had already racked up 21 days at 70 degrees or higher.
The first 70-degree day of this year didn't occur until February 21st.
The next 7 days around Las Vegas do NOT have a day 70 degrees or warmer and don't be surprised if these kinds of temperatures last into the first week of April.
The silver lining in this extended period of winter-like conditions is the continued chances for free water and mountain snow.
We all know it's going to be 110 in 3 1/2 months so enjoy the free air conditioning.