Vegas betting on chance of New Year’s Eve snow

(AP) — If Sin City’s sports books took bets on the weather, snow in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve would normally have terrible odds.
It might pay out this year, though, if the white flurries start falling on the Strip’s desert-dwelling casinos as expected tonight.
Those huddled in New York City to watch the ball drop could expect a mostly sunny Wednesday with a low of 27 degrees by evening. No chance of snow.
But forecasts in Las Vegas pinned the area’s chances on New Year’s Eve snow at 70 percent, along with a 32-degree low.
Even with that level of confidence, snowball fights on the Strip are far from a sure bet.
Moisture, snow’s key ingredient, remained elusive in predictions as of late Monday.
“Whether or not we get any snow, it’s still going to be very cold for New Year’s,” said Chris Stachelski, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Las Vegas.
So cold that meteorologists warned tourists — much like a parent might — to “bring layers and dress warmly” and wear shoes with some good traction, not typical for revelers looking to stay fashionable on the social holiday.
Some 340,000 people are expected to pack the Strip and Las Vegas’ downtown Fremont area for festivities.
Organizers of the fireworks show shot from the rooftops of seven casino-resorts remained confident Monday that snow wouldn’t damper the event. Michael Mack with Las Vegas Events said only wind could shut it down, and in the 14 years the company has been producing the show, it hadn’t.