[North American Weather (U.S.A & Canada)]

Las Vegas, Nevada has been dry, even by Southwestern United States standards. We haven't had an inch of rain, total, for the past 18 months. Lake Mead is near a record low level (Lake Mead is fed by the mountains of Colorado, so our local drought isn't entirely related).

[North American Weather (U.S.A & Canada)]

Blizzards in the Colorado Rockies. This is great news, the water from melting snow in the Colorado Rockies eventually ends up in Lake Mead (the Lake created by the Boulder/Hoover Dam), and that provides a huge amount of the water needed for Southern California, Southern Nevada, and Arizona.

The following is just a sample of the many snow warnings that were issued by the National Weather Service for multiple counties in Colorado:

Summit County, Mosquito Range (Colorado)

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO

944 AM MDT THU OCT 26 2006

...POWERFUL STORM SYSTEM POUNDING THE FRONT RANGE OF COLORADO...

.HEAVY SNOW WAS FALLING THIS MORNING ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE

MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS...AND PORTIONS OF THE FRONT RANGE

INTERSTATE 25 CORRIDOR. HOWEVER...IT WAS BEGINNING TO DIMINISH IN

AREAS NORTH OF A LINE FROM GREELEY TO BOULDER TO KREMMLING. SNOWFALL

RATES SOUTH OF THIS LINE WERE MOSTLY BETWEEN 1 AND 2 INCHES PER

HOUR...BUT RATES AS HIGH AS 3 INCHES PER HOUR REPORTED IN THE

FOOTHILLS OF GILPIN AND CLEAR CREEK COUNTIES.

THE SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO DIMINISH FROM NORTH TO SOUTH ACROSS THE

AREA LATE THIS MORNING THROUGH EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. TRAVEL IS NOT

RECOMMENDED AND MAY BE IMPOSSIBLE IN THE FRONT RANGE MOUNTAINS...

FOOTHILLS...AND PALMER DIVIDE AREA WITH HEAVY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS

WELL IN EXCESS OF 1 FOOT.

SNOWFALL TOTALS SO FAR RANGED BETWEEN 3 AND 9 INCHES ACROSS THE

BOULDER AND DENVER METRO AREAS...TO BETWEEN 10 AND 22 INCHES IN

THE FRONT RANGE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS.

COZ033-034-261800-

/O.CON.KBOU.WS.W.0009.000000T0000Z-061026T1800Z/

SOUTH AND EAST JACKSON/LARIMER/NORTH AND NORTHEAST GRAND/

NORTHWEST BOULDER COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-

SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST GRAND/WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST BOULDER/

GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/SUMMIT/NORTH AND WEST PARK COUNTIES ABOVE

9000 FEET-

INCLUDING...CAMERON PASS...LARAMIE AND MEDICINE BOW MOUNTAINS...

RABBIT EARS RANGE...ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK...

WILLOW CREEK PASS...BERTHOUD PASS...BRECKENRIDGE...

EAST SLOPES MOSQUITO RANGE...EAST SLOPES SOUTHERN GORE RANGE...

EISENHOWER TUNNEL...INDIAN PEAKS...KENOSHA MOUNTAINS...

MOUNT EVANS...WILLIAMS FORK MOUNTAINS...WINTER PARK

944 AM MDT THU OCT 26 2006

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON MDT TODAY...

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON MDT TODAY.

HEAVY SNOW WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH FROM NORTH TO SOUTH ACROSS THE

MOUNTAINS LATE THIS MORNING THROUGH THE EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS.

TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 12 TO 22 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED BY NOON

TODAY. NORTH WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH ABOVE

TIMBERLINE WILL PRODUCE SOME BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW OVER THE

HIGHER MOUNTAIN PASSES.

REMEMBER...A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS HAZARDOUS WINTER WEATHER

CONDITIONS ARE IMMINENT. SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE

OCCURRING. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

$$

Issuing Weather Forecast Office Homepage

[North American Weather (U.S.A & Canada)]

A little over a week ago I was swimming in Las Vegas, it was about 30C, and I could see snow on the peak of Mt Charleston, about 60 miles away.