Snow covers the sides and sphinx of the Luxor Hotel in 2008 on the Las Vegas Strip. 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 for 2014, though.

LAS VEGAS — Fireworks coordinator Phil Grucci has a request of Mother Nature in this city of glitzy shows: If you’re going to let it snow on New Year’s Eve, let it snow at just the right moment, like right before midnight when his show launches from the Las Vegas Strip.

Grucci, president and creative director of Fireworks by Grucci, talked about the weather as he stood atop the Treasure Island casino-hotel on the Strip, one of seven hotel rooftops where 70 workers have been readying the displays since the day after Christmas.

And If it’s going to snow, it would be great if the heavens put a stop to it shortly after the show ends, he said.

Like large swaths of the western U.S., Las Vegas is bracing for unusually cold weather as 2014 ends and 2015 starts. The low in the city on New Year’s Eve is forecast to be 32 degrees, with the possibility of snow flurries. About 340,000 people are expected to pack the Strip and Las Vegas’ downtown Fremont area for festivities.

On Tuesday, tourists walking around Treasure Island casino took the cold snap in stride, especially those from the Midwest and Northwest. “I think we brought the snow from Ohio,” said Lisa Richey, 38, who along with her sister and longtime friend came prepared for the chilly holiday.

Jared Corriveau, 24, also of Ohio, wore a T-shirt as he walked with his family outside and past people in coats with hands shoved deep into pockets, like Marcio Berri, 26, of Brazil.

“Who would expect snowing in Vegas?” Berri said.

He said he’d likely buy some new scarves and gloves before New Year’s Eve night, when he still planned to stand outside on the Strip with the masses.

If Berri ends up in front of the Monte Carlo casino-hotel, he’ll have his pick of adult beverages from an outdoor bar, but there will be coffee and hot chocolate, too, spiked or not.

Julie Pendergast, 33, and Travis Kearin, 32, left colder weather behind in Seattle, but they brought layers of winter coats with them for their Las Vegas New Year’s Eve. Kearin had been here years before, a year when he could wear shorts to ring in the new year.

Still, Pendergast was excited. “The sun’s nice. So I’m still happy,” she said.