Unusually chilly weather was as much a surprise as delayed flights and traffic for those returning home Sunday after the Thanksgiving holiday.
More than 270,000 Nevadans were expected to travel more than 50 miles from their homes for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Erika Chavira was returning home to Las Vegas with her two sisters after four days in El Paso, Texas.
As she waited outside McCarran International Airport for a ride, Chavira said returning to Las Vegas was easier than departing and that her plane was on time despite crowds.
The only hold-up, she said, was being targeted at the security check.
"We had to get searched like we were terrorists or something," said Chavira, who was one of many chosen at random to be searched.
McCarran had an estimated 150,000 passengers pass through the airport on Wednesday, and again on Sunday.
From Friday Nov. 19 through Monday Nov. 29 the airport had about 1.25 million travelers pass through during the facility's busiest travel period.
Al Giovezze and Mike Bellanti, both arriving to McCarran for a business conference, said their flights were delayed up to 90 minutes -- but because of weather, not crowds.
"The weather was awful back East," Giovezze said, who flew in from New York. He said rains delayed his flights.
For Bellanti, arriving from Philadelphia, the problem was headwinds at speeds of up to 170 mph that delayed his flight an hour.
About 2,000 travelers were stranded at Reno-Tahoe Airport on Sunday, a day after a snowstorm and an equipment malfunction forced 49 flights to be canceled or delayed.
Flights were expected to be booked through Tuesday at the Northern Nevada airport, spokesman Brian Kulpin said. The airport normally handled 11,000 passengers on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Even higher numbers took to the road. AAA estimated that of the more than a quarter-million Nevadans traveling for the holiday, an estimated 228,000-plus are expected to drive.
The Nevada Highway Patrol expected high traffic levels on Interstate 15 on Friday and Sunday, highway patrol Lt. Joseph Wingard said.
The Nevada and California highway patrols had additional officers working through the holiday weekend in the I-15 corridor.
AAA spokesman Michael Geeser said that nationwide the insurer estimated that 37.2 million Americans traveled more than 50 miles from their home during the holiday. He said the busiest travel day by car was Thursday.
Gasoline prices are about 57 cents higher per gallon than last year at this time, but Geeser said that wasn't a factor as the number of people traveling during the holiday will rise above pre-9/11 levels for the first time.
There have already been 100 fatalities recorded by the highway patrol on Southern Nevada highways this year. The number eclipsed the old record of 92 set in 2002 and is well ahead of the 79 fatalities last year.
The same weather that brought airport delays to Reno delivered cooler than average temperatures to the south of the state.
A polar express from the Gulf of Alaska is dropping Las Vegas Valley temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below normal for the coming week, the National Weather Service said.
Add to that winds that lashed the valley, reaching speeds between 40 mph and 50 mph Saturday and between 30-40 mph on Sunday. Winds kept high and low temperatures in the 50s and 40s this weekend.
"It's freezing," said UNLV freshman Gaby Leon as she shivered and waited on a bench along McCarran's passenger pickup lane.
Leon was returning from Thanksgiving, her first away from home, in the San Francisco Bay area with her grandmother. Leon is originally from Boston.
"I left my coat back in Massachusetts where I'm from," she said. "I'm not going to buy another one till I go home for Christmas."
Not far from her Paul Schliesser was comfortable enough to have a snack while he waited.
"It's colder than I expected. That's not bad," said Schliesser, who traveled to town for a trade show.
"I came here from Cincinnati. It's certainly better than there," he said.
Strong gusts over the weekend prompted the Department of Air Quality & Environmental Management to issue a dust advisory for Saturday and Sunday.
Public health officials urged children, seniors and people with chronic respiratory problems to stay indoors away from blowing dust. Officials also recommended that all residents limit outdoor exercise during dust storms.
No measurable rain fell in the Las Vegas Valley, weather service meteorologist Charlie Schlott said.
"Maybe by next weekend, we'll see another storm system similar to the one that passed through this weekend," Schlott said.
Through the week, however, there is no rain in sight, he said.
Sunday's daytime high reached 53 degrees at midnight. By mid-week, daytime temperatures should linger in the mid 50s, Schlott said.
Lows are expected to drop into the high 20s or low 30s in the valley by Tuesday.
Mount Charleston's high will hover in the 30s and lows could stay in the single digits this week.
While winds whipped weekend shoppers in the valley, visitors to Lake Mead National Recreation Area watched as Lake Mead's waters got a boost from an artificial flood unleashed by scientists studying sediments in the Colorado River.
From Nov. 21 through Thursday, scientists released the river's water from Glen Canyon Dam to study how sediments are distributed through the river's course to Lake Mead. It was the second artificial flood since 1996.
"We've had an increase of water," Penny Ramandos at the Lake Mead Resort and Marina said Sunday. "We got at least a couple of feet."
The resort and marina were busy over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Ramandos said.
archive