Okay, Sunday afternoon, with nothing better to do, I was scrolling through the internet and Facebook looking for something interesting to read/watch. One headline grab my attention immediately.
It screamed about unexpected and early heavy snowfall in parts of Las Vegas. It even mentioned road closures and the snowplows having to get out because of how much fell.
Huh?
One, snowfalls in Las Vegas are unexpected no matter the time of year and I wouldn’t call them heavy. A skiff of snow is a huge amount around here. And since we don’t get even inches of snow I sincerely doubt we have any snowplows.
Two, I don’t think we’ve had any measurable precipitation for a couple of weeks and even if we had it would have been rain because while our temperatures have dropped, they are still not low enough for snow.
So, thinking this is a hoax or something, I decided to Google “recent snowfall in Las Vegas, Nevada. And yes, I did type in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Several articles about this recent unexpected snowfall came up.
So, now I’m thinking this “parts of Las Vegas” is outlying areas with somewhat higher elevations than the main part of this rather large valley. But none of what I read gave me a clue where it was.
I told my husband about it, and he said that it couldn’t have happened because there is no snow accumulating on any of the surrounding mountains. Which tracks with the no recent precipitation and temperatures too warm for snow.
I look further into the various articles I found and even took the step to retype my question, so I was sure I was getting only local news.
Then I did find a clue. One of the articles had pictures of more than just snow completely covering a car. It actually had street signs, and I could read one of them.
Another problem. Commerce Street isn’t far from here and most decidedly not in an outlying area more prone to snow.
I’m still confused.
I investigate further and found a recording of a news cast about this record early snowfall. I don’t recognize anything about the background on the set or the person giving the news, but I don’t watch the local news anyway.
At this point I realize that I have heard of other places named Las Vegas, but I was under the impression that they were all very tiny places, and this is showing a good-sized city.
So, still not helping.
Then I noticed something in the video. A brief look at a sign that said Las Vegas. After the report had moved away from the sign, I realized that there had been words below Las Vegas which might identify which section or subdivision of Las Vegas that it was in.
I therefore made efforts to get my computer to cooperate and rewind the recording so that I could pause it on that sign and read the rest of it. My first attempt I got back to just before the sign but didn’t pause fast enough to read it.
I made a second attempt but went back further in the recording. This time I was able to pause it with the sign fully in the picture frame.
I was right. The additional words clearly clarified where this snowfall occurred.
It was in New Mexico. Geographically we seem to be on the same longitude, but I assume they are at a higher elevation since they do regularly experience snow.
This whole thing got me wondering how many places there are in the U.S. named Las Vegas. I did a Google search, but it only came up with four. Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and I’m assuming the other one is Puerto Rico, based on where it’s tagged on the map.
The thing is, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more places in the U.S. named Las Vegas than those four.
Why?
Because I’m positive there are a vast number of small communities, almost not even there towns, that are named after larger, far more well-known places.
A Google search for towns in the U.S. named Portland will tell you that there are ‘more than 30’ in the U.S. A similar search of the name Salem would get numbers close to that. And that list doesn’t include small communities like where we once lived in Salem, Idaho. Probably because they aren’t big enough to show on most maps. So, I’m assuming the numbers aren’t accurate.
Though I am wondering why I was getting news for a town in New Mexico. Especially since I did specifically asked for the news here. Maybe, I have the location tracker turned off.
Smile. Make the day a brighter day.
No comments:
Post a Comment