Hell Hast Frozen Over!

Snow Falls on Vegas Strip as Winter Storm hits Southern Nevada

ASSOCIATED PRESS LAS VEGAS (AP) -

For a moment Friday, the view over the pool at the Mandalay Bay resort stopped casino workers in their tracks.

"It's snowing in Las Vegas," hotel spokesman Gordon Absher said as a winter storm swept into southern Nevada. "We looked out over the lagoon, and there's snow over the palm trees."

"It's beautiful," said Wendy Williams, an employee at Caesars Palace hotel-casino. "People are all, like, 'What's going on?'"

It's been about a year since a rare desert snowfall on the Las Vegas Strip, and Williams said her husband reported snow was falling heavier in the northwest neighborhood of Summerlin. A dusting on cars was also reported in hillside neighborhoods across the Las Vegas valley in Henderson.

"We've got it all over," said Lisa Anderson, a Las Vegas police spokeswoman. She said that besides traffic tie-ups and fender-benders, no major problems were reported.

A Dec. 30, 2003, snowstorm was the first in five years to deposit an inch or two of snow on cars, trees, sidewalks and roads.

The National Weather Service predicted rain throughout the weekend in southern Nevada, with wind and heavy snow in the mountains