We can ONLY HOPE

[Scorpion]

/O.EXA.KPSR.HS.W.0001.000000T0000Z- 060312T1200Z/ NORTHWEST MARICOPA COUNTY-GREATER PHOENIX AREA- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...LAKE PLEASANT... MORRISTOWN... NEW RIVER...TONOPAH... BUCKEYE...WICKENBURG...CAREFREE... CAVE CREEK...CHANDLER...FOUNTAIN HILLS...GILBERT...GLENDALE... MESA... PEORIA...PHOENIX...SCOTTSDALE...SUN CITY...TEMPE 1030 AM MST SAT MAR 11 2006

...HEAVY SNOW WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 AM MST SUNDAY IN NORTHERN MARICOPA COUNTY ABOVE 2 THOUSAND FEET FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX HAS ISSUED A HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR NORTHERN MARICOPA COUNTY ABOVE 2 THOUSAND FEET FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT THROUGH 5 AM MST SUNDAY.

RAIN AND SNOW WILL CONTINUE TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE SNOW LEVEL HAS LOWERED TO NEAR 2 THOUSAND FEET IN NORTHERN MARICOPA COUNTY INCLUDING THE WICKENBURG...NEW RIVER...CAREFREE AREAS AND HIGHER TERRAIN TO THE NORTH AND NORTHEAST.

ALTHOUGH...THE SNOW LEVEL MAY TEMPORARILY RISE THIS AFTERNOON...IT IS EXPECTED TO LOWER AGAIN TONIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF MORE THAN HALF A FOOT ARE POSSIBLE ABOVE 2 THOUSAND FEET WITH OVER A FOOT LIKELY ABOVE 4 THOUSAND FEET.

ADDITIONALLY...WIND IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE THIS AFTERNOON. THIS WILL CAUSE BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF THE SNOW...THEREBY REDUCING VISIBILITY ON HIGHWAYS AND ROADS TO LESS THAN A MILE AT TIMES.

A HEAVY SNOW WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL ON ROADS...AND INTO REMOTE AREAS HAZARDOUS.

WEATHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON WEATHER RADIO ON THE PUBLIC SERVICE BAND.

My god. That is incredible. Half foot above 2000 ft???!! Thats a half foot in desert! No way! This kind of event NEVER occurred when I lived there and is unprecedented. Nature has its way of balancing.

[PTrackerLA]

This is quite an amazing storm for Arizona. Keep us updated, it's very interesting!

[arizonasooner]

Light rain and 45F in Glendale right now. Check out the "house-cam."

[Extremeweatherguy]

wow! 6" above 2000 feet! All those northern Maricopa mountains will be whitecapped. That is not a common sight at all! wow...

[azskyman]

While I am in L.A. for the weekend, and we are having rain and snow over much of southern California, I can imagine that mountains north of Phoenix and perhaps including the McDowells near my home are white with snow too!

Not that unusual, really, but the amount of moisture sure is for much of the Salt River basin and areas to the north.

This will be a nice break before the heat and dryness of spring arrives in April and lasts until the monsoon.

[plainsman]

has it ever snowed in the acual city of los angeles or sandiego?.... i think it did like once in the 1940s?... how about in phoenix? i know vegas gets some flurries every 3 years and in the acual city of sanfransisco they may get some freak snow flurries every 15-20 yrs.. any body have any info on those cities?

[Scorpion]

Only once have I seen the McDowells snowcapped. Must be great for people in Phoenix. Its only a short drive up the mountains for sledding. Heck maybe even Squaw Peak will be snowcapped.

[azskyman]

I've seen the McDowell's snowcapped about four times in eight years. Not for long. Usually just a few hours, and by afternoon the snow is melted. Highest part of that range is around 4,000' It has snowed on my backyard, but not to measure, and I am geographically about in the center of Scottsdale.

[bob rulz]

Yes, Phoenix has seen a few storms before. I don't think any have been more than about 2" inches though...I don't think, and the last time the Phoenix airport actually saw snow was 1990 I think. Los Angeles I think saw .1" of an inch of snow once (I don't know when, and I don't know if it was the airport or the city), but I don't think San Diego has ever even seen a flurry. Maybe a trace, just once.

Heh, there's a lot of "I thinks" in that paragraph. Don't quote me on any of that.

[Aslkahuna]

SAN and YUM have seen only traces, Los Angeles has seen up to 1 inch of snow in 1932 and a trace in 1949 though the beaches and Santa Monica got more. There have been events around LA since. SFO downtown last saw snow in 1975 but the suburbs have seen snow in places since. Also some of those hail reports are probably snow pellets. If you see or read reports of people making snowballs after a heavy hail fall then you know it's snow pellets because you can't make snowballs out of hail. Las Vegas got snow in the 2004-05 winter and the 2003-04 winter. Most snow there was a monthly total of 17 inches in January 1949 which still stands as the coldest Winter month of record in the West (that was also when SAN and YUM got traces of snow).

Steve

[azskyman]

I ended up with 1.06" at my station in NE Phoenix, a very welcome addition to the otherwise precipitation-less winter!

[azsnowman]

WELL........here we go AGAIN

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/fgz

A MINOR DISTURBANCE WILL PASS QUICKLY TO OUR NORTH AROUND LATE TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY BRINGING OCCASIONALLY BREEZY WINDS...BUT ANY PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO BE CONFINED NORTH OF OUR BORDER WITH UTAH. IN ALL...THE WARMING TREND WILL CONTINUE FOR THIS WEEK. FOR THE END OF THE SEVEN DAY FORECAST PERIOD...LATEST GFS RUNS HAVE BECOME MORE CONSISTENT IN BRINGING ANOTHER POTENTIALLY WET STORM FOR THE COMING WEEKEND. THOUGH THE STORM IS CERTAINLY NOT EXPECTED TO BE OF THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS LAST STORM...ANOTHER ACCUMULATING PRECIPITATION EVENT IS QUITE POSSIBLE. HAVE UPPED PRECIPITATION CHANCES WITH THIS FEATURE FOR THE AFTERNOON PACKAGE.

[LTHLBLU]

i hope it keeps coming for ya!

[Aslkahuna]

We got 0.20in here at the house as this was a northern and Central AZ storm as will the next one be.

Steve