The short answer to this one is no. We placed a call to the Las Vegas branch of the National Weather Service Forecast department of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association (NOAA), which has records going back to 1937. They confirmed that there's never been a white Christmas in Las Vegas from that time to this. The closest place to the city that has had a white Christmas is Mt. Charleston, where it's a regular occurrence, but this year it's looking unlikely: We checked with local forecasters on December 23rd and they confirmed there was only a light dusting on the mountaintops and no expectation of any snowfall in the next few days. The city of Las Vegas is also due to have a fairly mild winter.
As a general rule, snowfall in Clark County is more likely in January than December: The biggest snowfall to date was recorded at McCarran Airport on Jan. 5, 1974, when a total of eight inches fell. For other snowy statistics, which are complete from 1937 to 1996 but somewhat patchy thereafter, visit the Las Vegas Snowfall page on the local NOAA site at www.wrh.noaa.gov/vef/climate. You can also access current conditions, forecasts, and warnings for Las Vegas weather at www.wrh.noaa.gov/vef/.
