Snow was sighted in Scottsdale up at Troon North Golf Club on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service’s Phoenix office. Meteorologists say it’s due to cold air causing a freezing effect at a lower elevation than normal.
“It won’t last very long and the accumulations will not be as significant. It will be turning back to rain, and then the rain is going to rapidly taper off in the later part of the afternoon and into the early evening,” James Sawtelle, meteorologist with the weather service in Phoenix, said.
“We’ll still have some chance of some additional isolated showers until 8 pm, but the scattered showers will probably last until 6 or 6:30 pm,” he continued.
Sawtelle said the weather service is still investigating whether or not it was snow or instead graupel, an ice-based substance that accumulates on the ground, but the weather service did confirm it won’t last long.
Light rain blanketed much of metro Phoenix early Wednesday with areas from Gilbert and east Mesa to Glendale receiving between a third and a half of an inch of rainfall as of 3 pm Phoenix, Tempe, west Mesa and the South Mountain areas received closer to .15 to .3 inches of rainfall.
The northeast edge of the Valley including Troon North and Cave Creek saw the most precipitation, with one rain gauge in Carefree measuring 0.87 inch.
Northern Arizona sees inches of snow
The snow sighting occurred on a busy day for winter storms, with northern Arizona seeing a slew of different closures related to the winter weather. Snow will continue in northern Arizona through early Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
“We are continuing to see impacts from our winter storm across the high country. We have seen anywhere between a few inches of snowfall at some of our lower elevations to around a foot of snow here across the Flagstaff area,” Lamont Bain, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Flagstaff office, said.
“What we are anticipating in terms of additional snowfall amounts, a general 1- to 2-inch (increase) for areas just west of the I-17 corridor, but as you head closer to the I-17 corridor and really east and south of I-40, that’s where we are really going to be looking at the potential for some additional heftier amounts — particularly across the Mogollon Rim and the White Mountains.”
These two areas could see an additional 4 to 6 inches of snow before this storm is over, according to Bain.
As of 12:15 pm Wednesday, the Arizona Department of Transportation reports road closures due to winter weather on State Route 87 northbound in Payson at milepost 254, on State Route 87 southbound near Winslow at milepost 338, in both directions of State Route 89A between Sedona and Flagstaff, and in both directions on State Route 260 in between mileposts 256 in Star Valley and 302 in Heber.
The Arizona Department of Transportation recommends drivers avoid all nonessential travel in these areas until the storm clears. There is no estimated time to reopen these highways.
Winter weather closes schools in northern Arizona
The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings for both Payson and Flagstaff, citing temperatures of about 30 degrees with 2 to 8 inches of snow, icy roads and high winds until 11 pm Additional winter weather advisories have been issued for areas around Prescott, Wickenburg , Kingman and Globe as well.
On top of roads being shut down, schools in Flagstaff and Prescott have closed down for the day due to weather as well. The Payson Unified School District has not shut its doors but instead has suspended bus services for the day.
The following roads are closed:
- State Route 87 northbound is closed in Payson at milepost 254.
- State Route 87 southbound is closed near Winslow at milepost 338.
- State Route 89A is closed in both directions between Sedona and Flagstaff.
- State Route 260 is closed in both directions between mileposts 256 in Star Valley and 302 in Heber.
Reach breaking news intern Brock Blasdell at [email protected] or on Twitter @BrockBlasdell.
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