Las Vegas Strip Covered in Snow as Storm Moves Across the Desert in Nevada

The Bellagio resort in Las Vegas in this file photo. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, got a rare dusting of snow this week.

The snow reflected the bright lights of casinos and other establishments.

Locals took their children to area parks for snowball battles, snowmen building, and sledding.

Later in the week, more snow is expected to fall in the U.S. gambling mecca.

Parts of Las Vegas and the surrounding area got about an inch or two of snow, reported the Weather Channel. An inch of snow was reported in Henderson and about 1 to 2 inches in Summerlin.

Snow forced the closure of Interstate 15 on Feb. 18, from State Route 146 on the south end of the Last Vegas Valley to Primm on the California side, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.

“Temperatures tumbled by at least 20 degrees Fahrenheit in 24 hours, leading to light snow. This was the first snowfall in the city since a trace of snow fell in December 2015. Las Vegas averages 0.3 of an inch of snow in a year,” according to AccuWeather.

A trace of snow fell on Feb. 10 in Vegas.

The last time the Las Vegas Airport had snow on multiple days in February was in 1987. Other days with snow on multiple days was 1939, 1955, 1960, 1979, and 1985, noted the Weather Channel.

“From Buffalo Bills, Primm, to [Seven Magic Mountains], it took us 45 minutes because route 15 was closed,” said Esti Piels, a tourist, Fox5 reported. “We took the back road and found a semi stuck, perpendicular to the road.”

“[The snow] was coming down sideways,” said one driver who was stranded.

“We got out early….We heard about the horrendous closure and how bad it was backed up,” said Kristy Glinski, another tourist, according to the local station. “So we got routed around [to Las Vegas Blvd].”

More Snow

Nevada is forecast to have another winter storm after experiencing a weekend storm, as reported by The Associated Press.

The storm over the holiday weekend brought 31 inches of snow to the Heavenly Mountain resort on Lake Tahoe’s south shore, two inches at the airport in Reno and caused snowflakes to fall on the Las Vegas Strip.

Higher elevation areas on the western and southern edges of the Las Vegas area received one to two inches of snow.

The storm caused a nearly 5-hour shutdown of Interstate 15 at the Nevada state line on Monday due to multiple accidents related to snow and ice.

It was later reopened.

Another winter storm coming from the Pacific Northwest is expected to arrive on Wednesday and Thursday in Nevada.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.