LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – As residents across the Las Vegas Valley deal with temperatures in the 90s, residents up on Mt. Charleston are dealing with flooding on private roads as the snow melts.
Those who spoke with 8 News Now fear the conditions will get worse.
“You can’t really have a good schedule up here you know mother nature has its own schedule,” Jimmy Alderson Mt. Charleston resident said.
Alderson is known as Mt. Charleston Mountain Man by his neighbors.
He loves living in the mountains so much that he even wrote a song about it, but as beautiful as it may be there is a downfall after winter.
But this year it’s worse, that’s because more than 260 inches of snow fell onto the mountain during the season, breaking a record. Now all that snow will take longer to melt.
“It gets pretty bad,” Alderson told 8 News Now.
Higher up in the mountains, the snow is starting to melt, and it is causing destruction on the roads which makes it difficult for residents like Alderson to get to their homes.
The gravel road does not make it easier as it gets washed away with the snow melt.
“Where it goes is not something we direct or push,” Andrew Mitchell with Forestry Service said.
Mitchell added that the snow melt could be anywhere on the mountain.
“The Lovell Pass and the Wheeler Pass OHV trail have both been washed out, that is probably the situation we are going to experience more of,” Mitchell shared.
However, as temperatures dip back down, the snow that is melting will turn into ice which is causing another worry.
“Snow drifts and icy trails those are things you need to be prepared for,” Mitchell added.
He advised checking the conditions of the mountain before heading up as loose snow could cause dangers such as avalanches or rockslides.
