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Rare Snow Blankets Vegas Strip

Schoolkids get first snow day in 30 years as traffic snarls

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 18, 2008 4:13 AM CST

(Newser) – The heaviest snowfall in nearly 30 years has left the Vegas Strip looking like a winter wonderland, the Las Vegas Sun reports. Local schoolkids are getting their first snow day since 1979. Traffic is snarled across the city as the weather stuns snow-novice drivers, and strands hundreds of tourists in the snowy desert.

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Snow covers the sides and sphinx of the Luxor Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip yesterday. (AP Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau, Darrin Bush)

In this photo provided by the Las Vegas News Bureau, people play in the snow in front of the Las Vegas welcome sign yesterday. (AP Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau, Darrin Bush)

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Snow blankets the Red Rock Canyon National Park 15 miles west of Las Vegas. (cdcunc)

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Rare Snow Blankets Vegas Strip