Winter storm leaves rain and snow across Arizona. More is expected next week
A fast-moving winter storm drenched parts of metro Phoenix with up to an inch of rain and left close to a foot of snow in some high country locations. More rain and snow is expected next week.
Overnight Thursday, rainfall totals ranged from 0.25 of an inch to 0.75 of an inch, according to the National Weather Service, although areas in east Mesa and Apache Junction recorded more than 1 inch of rain. Yuma broke a daily rainfall record for Feb. 1, of 0.17 of an inch.
Rain gauges monitored by the Flood Control District of Maricopa County showed 24-hour totals ranging from about 0.35 of an inch in the southwest Valley, to multiple sites with one-half to three-quarters of an inch to amounts as high as 1.77 inches near Cave Creek and 2 inches near Tortilla Flat.
Snow fell overnight Thursday and through Friday morning, leaving totals ranging from about 5 inches in downtown Flagstaff, to 9 inches in Munds Park to a foot in the higher mountains of Yavapai County.
Most of the rain had tapered off by late Friday and forecasters said skies would clear up Saturday, though the 70-degree temperatures of the past week would fade into the lower 60s as the storms moved out. Chances of snow in the higher elevations were also giving way to partly cloudy skies and colder temperatures.
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Metro Phoenix will see some warmer temperatures in the high 60s to low 70s going into the weekend and early next week, according to the National Weather Service, before cooler weather and showers hit the area on Tuesday.
"This second system going into next week does look a little more potent than this past system we just saw," said Ryan Worley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Phoenix. "Right now, the metro Phoenix area is seeing forecasted rain totals being upwards of a widespread, one-inch total across the Valley."
The second storm system, expected to move in on Tuesday, could bring more widespread rain and snow showers to the region. In a forecast discussion, the weather service described an "extremely active wet pattern" across the Southwest, with "multiple rounds of rain" expected.
Temperatures next week are expected to stay around 60 degrees after Tuesday, which is about five degrees cooler than average for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service.
All of this is part of back-to-back atmospheric rivers hitting the West Coast, long regions of water vapor in the atmosphere, like a river in the sky. The second storm could also bring warmer air and water, fueled by a pattern known as the Pineapple Express.
The rivers are sorted into categories based on the severity of the storm like hurricanes. The amount of water vapor carried in these rivers can produce extreme rain and snowfall, some of which Arizona is experiencing now.
For more information on updated road and weather conditions, visit Arizona Traveler Information, download the AZ 511 app or dial 511.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Chances of rain continue for metro Phoenix. Here's what to expect
