Traveling on Christmas Eve? Expect wet roads in Las Vegas as storm arrives

Wave goodbye to our sunny and dry December, and say hello to clouds and much-needed rain.

A firehose of tropical moisture that has caused flooding in California is swinging south this week, bringing widespread showers to Southern Nevada.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for the Las Vegas Valley from 4 a.m. Christmas Eve through 4 a.m. Christmas morning, with rain starting late tonight and the rainfall expected for much of Wednesday.

The valley should see around an inch of rain, said Clay Morgan of the National Weather Service. He called this Pacific storm “very, very warm,” which is why only the highest elevations of the Spring Mountains will see snow. The Lee Canyon ski resort, whose base lodge is about 8,600 feet, may not see any snow at all.

Rainfall totals are forecast at up to 4 inches on south-facing slopes of the mountains.

The last time Las Vegas saw rain on Christmas Eve was 2021 (.03 inches) and Christmas Day was 2018 (.07).

Beyond Christmas Day, Morgan said it’s uncertain whether the valley will see any weekend showers; it depends how fast the incoming storm moves east.

Regional impacts

The storm will arrive just as holiday travelers take to the highways to and from Southern California, where the atmospheric river is forecast to bring up to 11 inches of rain to some parts of Ventura County by Saturday. Parts of Los Angeles, including areas with burn scars from the deadly Palisades fire, will be under evacuation warnings beginning today.

Travel will be even more difficult in the Sierra Nevada, where up to 6 feet of snow is predicted, with winds up to 55 mph in high elevations by Christmas Eve. Driving in the mountain passes on Christmas Day would be difficult to near impossible, the weather service said.

The Regional Transportation Commission expects the peak travel days for traffic on Interstate 15 southbound toward California in the days following Christmas and New Year’s. Rain is still possible in that period, according to the weather service.

An atmospheric river is a long, narrow band of water vapor that forms over tropical ocean and transports moisture to northern latitudes. This system has been battering Northern California for days, causing flooding that forced water rescues from vehicles and homes.

Warm, dry December

So far, Southern Nevada is on pace to see its warmest December on record, Morgan said. The last two years were the warmest Decembers on record (53.2 median degrees in 2023 and 52.9 median degrees in 2024.) The valley saw no rain in December last year.

Wet November

Thanks to a soggy November, Harry Reid International Airport has recorded 4.96 inches of rain this year (average is 4.18). Even before this week’s storm hits, the weather service said 2025 will go down as the wettest year in Las Vegas since 2019, when a wet winter contributed to a total of 6.87 inches.

— Mick Akers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.