STORMS HIT STATE
A golfer putts in the rain on Saturday at the Arizona Grand Golf Course in Phoenix.
A winter weather advisory on Friday kicked off the first real winter storms in Arizona this season, storms the National Weather Service would go on to call both “memorable and dangerous.”
As of Friday night there were projections of rain across the Valley with temperature drops, and they delivered.
Temperatures quickly dropped Friday and Saturday from the high 60s, normal for this time of year, to the mid 50s by Sunday.
Isolated showers arrived to the Valley on Saturday and dropped up to .25 inches in central Phoenix and up to half an inch in Scottsdale by Sunday afternoon.
The Buckeye area even saw small hail.
The hail also hit areas of Casa
Grande, and local Danny Martinez witnessed first hand.
“I didn’t pay attention to it as I started watching the NFC Championship Game until I noticed it was coming down pretty hard,” he said. He reported that no damage was done as “the biggest of the hail was peasized.”
The weather service expects temperatures to drop even further as a second storm moves in Monday and Tuesday, with temperatures staying in the 50s on Monday, and Tuesday to be the coldest.
“There’s a chance we may not even get out of the 40s so it’ll be a pretty chilly day on Tuesday,” meteorologist Jaret Rogers with National Weather Service in Phoenix explained on Sunday.
Flagstaff sees 10 inches of snow
In northern Arizona, the early hours of Saturday brought heavy snow, peaking at 1 to 2 inches of snow per hour.
As of Sunday afternoon the National Weather Service reported 9 inches of snow in Flagstaff, 5 inches in Prescott and up to 13 inches in Kachina Village, with snow falling as 2 to 3 inches an hour.
As the storm’s downpour increased, so did concerns over snowy conditions.
“With so little snow falling so far this year, travelers aren’t used to managing hazardous roads, and may not have their cars and homes prepared for this potentially dangerous system,” meteorologist Brian Klimowski with the National Weather Service in Flagstaff explained, especially in areas that don’t often see significant snowfall such as Prescott and Verde Valley.
The Arizona Department of Transportation issued their own emergency warnings, advising drivers to stay home or delay travel if possible.
The snow brought some excitement to anyone looking to visit Arizona Snowbowl as the ski resort expects up to 3 feet of snow in the next week. With 25 trails open to visitors, Sunday and Monday lift passes quickly sold out.
The storms brought snow as far south as Mt. Lemmon, just north of Tucson, which saw 8 inches by Sunday afternoon.
Tucson and surrounding areas saw anywhere from .05 to .25 inches of rain with some outlying areas seeing as high as half an inch of rain, according to the National Weather Service in Tucson. By late afternoon there were reports of hail up to half an inch hitting areas in southeast Tucson.
More storms on Monday, Tuesday
“Storm number two ... is coming at us on Monday night into Tuesday and that we may have low elevation snow, even possibly as low as Tucson,” warned meteorologist Carl Cerniglia with the Weather Service in Tucson.
As of Sunday afternoon the second storm is still expected to hit Arizona, bringing colder temperatures and higher winds.
Metro Phoenix is expected to have widespread rain Monday morning into the afternoon with strong winds possibly reaching up to 50 miles per hour. While there is a wind advisory in effect, the Weather Service is not expecting any flash flooding or serious damage due to the strong gusts.
“There will be quite a bit of rainfall across the Phoenix area in a short window accompanied by strong wind gusts,” Rogers added.