FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The precipitation from a series of winter storms in Flagstaff is more than the city had during last summer’s monsoon season, and even more is coming, weather forecasters said.
The mountainous northern Arizona city recorded its driest monsoon seasons on record in 2020 and 2019.
Before midnight Sunday, the snowfall measured as water topped the 1.78 inches that fell as rain during from mid-June to September at 1.86 inches so far.
Other Arizona cities were on track to do the same, said Tim Steffen, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
“It’s somewhat of a gee-whiz thing, but it also goes to show how dry last monsoon season was,” he said.
The weather will ping-pong the rest of the week with a blast of well-below freezing temperatures Wednesday morning in places like Flagstaff, Window Rock and the Grand Canyon. Temperatures then will moderate before a weaker storm moves in ahead of the weekend, Steffen said.
Schools across northern Arizona closed or had shortened schedules Monday as heavy snow fell across the region. The biggest of the storms that have slammed the state since last week was expected to last from Monday into Tuesday.
Flagstaff, Payson and Pinetop-Lakeside could get close to 3 feet of snow or more before the storm moves out. Lower-lying areas also got snow, while places like Phoenix had rain.
Authorities urged people to stay home to avoid snow-packed and slick roads. Chains were required on vehicles in some areas. Major interstates were open but some roads were closed, including State Route 89A between Sedona and Flagstaff.
Roads across western and northern New Mexico were snow packed and icy Monday from the latest storm, bringing much-needed rain and snow to the parched state.
While some eastern plains areas had no precipitation, several inches of snow fell at higher elevations, the National Weather Service in Albuquerque said.
At this time last year, extreme and exceptional drought were nonexistent in New Mexico and Arizona.
Now, the two worst categories of drought cover more than 80% of New Mexico and nearly 94% of Arizona.
