The White Pine County Jail is bulging at the seems with a bumper crop of inmates and little extra room said under Sheriff Scott Henroid.

“We have rarely seen it like this,” Henroid said last week. “usually there is an increase in population around the New Year’s holiday. But very rarely like this especially in the winter time.”

Ely like the rest of Nevada has seen a very warm winter with little or no snowfall and temperatures rarely dropping below freezing.

And while the almost balmy conditions are welcomed by most residents and travelers passing through the Silver State, police have long noted that the nicer it is outside the more crime.

“It’s simple,” explained now retired White Pine county sheriff Bernie Romero ten years ago during a similar winter heat wave. “When is 20 below freezing and there is a foot of snow on the road it is pretty hard to commit a crime.”

Since New Year’s day some 15 felons have been booked into the jail on new arrest warrants in addition to inmates serving out misdemeanor sentences.