It was a rare sight in the desert Sunday as snow fell onto Palm Trees, rooftops, and much more.  The winter storm greeted local drivers with a dusting of white on their cars, leaving many to improvise ways to scrape off the snow.

While it’s rare to get that much snow in the valley, Mount Charleston is pretty accustomed to it, so the most recent snowfall made for an amazing snow day!

“Yeah, I’m so happy,” said Ariel Zita, 10-year-old enjoying the snow. 

Many were still in disbelief after seeing what this most recent storm brought to the valley and the mountains.

“Beautiful; it’s a winter wonderland,” Joel Aquino said while laughing.
“No last night no it was just really crazy my neighbor just came out on the street they were dancing and laughing.”

“We normally would go to Big Bear, so this is kinda the same thing to us but never thought it would be snowing in Las Vegas,” said Ivan Perez, a Las Vegas local.

Thomas Schneekloth, the general manager of the Mount Charleston Lodge says business has been great this year. The snowfall this year is something they hope for every winter.

“We’ve been practicing this since right after Thanksgiving, so we had a couple of months of strong heavy snow play weather with the kids coming up and everyone looking for a hot chocolate and hot meal,” Schneekloth said.

For 10-year-old Ariel Zita, seeing the snow for the fourth time in her young life, along with getting to play with her family made her day.

“I like to do snow angels, try to build a snowman and make snowballs and throw them,” said Zita.

The storm brought about 6-8-inches of fresh snow, but road crews uckily were able to clear the roads in enough time for the influx of people off for President’s Day’s visit.

“I admire how the people have been maintaining this area; they are so good,” said Aquino.  “It’s safe, and I saw police as well, and people are disciplined as well. It was really smooth coming up here .”

The only downfall from the snowfall was that there was less parking visitors.

“We’re starting to have to move the larger piles out of the way because we are starting to lose space to the pile of snow because we had so much this season,” said Schneekloth.  “I mean its a great thing for the mountain to get all this moisture keeping our fingers crossed this next storm isnt too big.” 

Another winter storm is expected later this week.