Snow In Northern Arizona, Rain Likely In Phoenix Area

By Kathy Ritchie, Will Stone
Published: Friday, May 15, 2015 - 8:27am
Updated: Friday, May 15, 2015 - 12:19pm
(Photo courtesy of Arizona Department of Transportation)
ADOT cameras show snow in Flagstaff on May 15, 2015.
(Photo courtesy of Arizona Department of Transportation)
ADOT cameras show snow in Flagstaff on May 15, 2015.

The latest weather system passing through Arizona is not only bringing rain to Phoenix, but snow to other parts of the state.

Between 1 and 3 inches of snow has already fallen in Flagstaff. And to the west of the city, more than 6 inches is covering the ground.

"Well, It’s highly unusual but we have a very strong storm system that’s impacting the area right now, and a very small scale band is what’s responsible for the snow we saw west of flagstaff late last night and early this morning," said Brian Klimowski  of the National Weather Service.

Klimowski said they expect one to 4 more inches of snow. In Phoenix, forecasters are calling for a quarter inch to half an inch of rain.

The Arizona Department of Transportation said there were some minor incidents on the roads but that the highways remained open overnight.

Garen Groft with ADOT said plows were ready to go even this late in the season. 

“We do have plows deployed throughout the high country, including in Flagstaff. So we’ve already got the plows there, and we’ve got about 400 trained plow operators across the state, so we certainly have the personnel," Groft said.

Groft said  much of the snow on the roadways has begun to melt, but there’s a chance of more precipitation in Northern Arizona on Saturday.

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