LAS VEGAS » 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 an Eiffel Tower, a pyramid and a volcano come Wednesday night as forecast by the National Weather Service.

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.

Forecasts in Las Vegas, though, pinned the area’s chances on New Year’s Eve snow at 70 percent, along with a 32-degree low.

But even with that level of confidence, snowball fights on the Strip remain 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 meteorologist with the service in Las Vegas.

It’s part of a cold and "somewhat moist" storm moving south across California onto the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas bringing snow to parts of Northern Arizona and Utah, according to National Weather Service forecasts.

It’s going to be cold, that’s certain, so cold that the meteorologists at the National Weather Service warned tourists much like a parent might to, "bring layers and dress warmly," and wear shoes with some good traction, not typical if attempting acts of fashion 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 their show. 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.

If it does snow, it’ll be BYODI at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport where it’s up to airlines to bring de-icing equipment with them. The airport doesn’t have any snow removal gear on hand nor is it required to. The last time any notable amount stuck to the airport’s runways was Dec. 17, 2008.

Early forecasts said the southern Nevada area could expect up to three inches in spots 2,000 feet above sea level and up to an inch on the Strip and surrounding Las Vegas valley but by Monday evening, meteorologists had scaled that back to up to 2 inches in higher elevations and "a light coating to half inch, an inch," on the Strip, Stachelski said.

The main issue may be getting to or leaving Las Vegas. Snow is expected Tuesday evening through Wednesday in one of the main routes for Southern Californians, the Cajon Pass on Interstate 15. Travelers coming from Utah and Arizona should be fine, until Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday when snow is expected on Interstate 40 through Flagstaff and U.S. Route 93 to Phoenix, Stachelski said.