Cold Blast, Freeze Head for California, Arizona

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

January 10,2013; 7:13AM,EST

The arctic plunge anticipated last week is aiming for the West first and will drive across California Thursday, then southern Arizona Friday.
According to Western Weather Expert Ken Clark, "The coldest air of the season will settle over much of California Friday and Saturday."
Temperatures could dip to within a few degrees of the lowest levels reached during all of the prior winter.
Many of the lower elevations in California will have highs ranging from the upper 40s to the middle 50s. Throw in wind and other atmospheric conditions and AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures will be about 20 degrees lower, ranging from the upper 20s to the middle 30s.
Conditions will be much colder in the upper deserts and the mountains.
Gusty winds will kick up dust and can cause problems for high-profile vehicles in open areas. Sporadic power outages are possible. Gusts can reach 60 mph in the mountains and deserts.

Winds will diminish over much of the state Friday night, paving the way for frost and freeze in many locations.

"Some of the valleys in Southern California will dip a little below freezing, but a hard freeze is likely in parts of Ventura and inland Santa Barbara counties," Clark said.

Clark added that while there has been a frost and freeze already over parts of interior Southern California already this season, temperatures in the coldest areas of these counties could be below 28 degrees for several hours during this event.
Much of California will struggle to warm Saturday.
"With clear skies and light winds, Saturday night could be almost as cold as Friday night," Clark stated.

A few daily low temperature records could be challenged Saturday and Sunday morning. (Photos.com image and thumbnail)

The initial push of cold air will bring some snow to the Sierra Nevada, but not an exceptional amount of snow. Up to a half a foot of snow will fall over northern areas with perhaps a couple of inches over the central locations.
Enough snow accompanied by plunging temperatures to cause slow travel for at time along I-80 over Donner Pass and I-5 through the Siskiyou Mountains.
While spotty rain showers are forecast for most of the lowland areas Thursday. Slippery travel is possible over the Grapevine and other routes that venture over the mountain passes with snow levels dipping to as low as 2,000 feet.

While the cold push will only bring a relatively small amount of snow to the Sierra Nevada and the southern Cascades and perhaps a light coating to some of the other ranges in the state, it will help spin up more of a storm and heavier snow farther inland over the West into Friday and the northern Plains this weekend.