Visitors flying into Las Vegas this week and hoping for a warm and sunny escape are going to be surprised with an unusual sight: Sin City covered in snow! Las Vegas was hit with not one, but two snowfalls that left a light layer of snow covering the city.
While the U.S. has faced several winter storms this year, this snowfall marks highly unusual weather for Las Vegas. In fact, it’s reportedly the most snow the otherwise dry and warm city, located in Nevada’s Mojave Desert, has seen in a February since 1937. This month is also the coldest February in Las Vegas’ history since 2004.
People all over Las Vegas took to social media to share cool videos and photos of the snow, including this one from Instagram user featuring the iconic “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign blanketed in white:
It even snowed on the Las Vegas Strip! It’s not often that you see snow falling on top of palm trees. Take a look at this video captured by Fox 10 Phoenix:
Some Las Vegas residents, like @kristensellsvegas, even made snowmen. (And in true Las Vegas style, this snowman has a couple pairs of sunglasses on.)
As you might expect, snow has caused delays and at least a hundred canceled flights at the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport. The storm has also forced some highway closures, including the main route that connects Las Vegas to Arizona.
Tourists were also not able to visit the exterior observation deck at the Stratosphere Hotel during the storm, according to the Twitter video below.
And snow falls on @stratvegas. Outside observation deck on Stratosphere in Las Vegas is closed, however. pic.twitter.com/3NQpkTgdAP
— David Montero (@DaveMontero) February 21, 2019
Las Vegas is far from the only city to deal with unusually cold weather in recent weeks. Earlier this month, freezing weather from a polar vortex made Chicago’s Lake Michigan look like a boiling cauldron. Even some parts of Southern California saw snow this week, too.
