Plentiful Rain and Snow for Arizona, Four Corners

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

December 13,2012; 7:36PM,EST

The storm that dropped southward across California at midweek with cold rain and mountain snow is turning the corner and heading east Thursday and Friday.
The storm continues to bring locally drenching rain to Southern California, as well as near-freezing temperatures with spotty rain and snow to the passes.
Travel along I-40 could be much more difficult for a time at the end of this week with heavy snow forecast for the higher elevations.
According to Western Weather Expert Ken Clark, "The storm will bring a plentiful amount of moisture to the deserts and mountains in the Southwest."

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Rain and snow will break out and progress from west to east into Friday from the first storm, before another storm with rain and snow arrives over the weekend.

"In Arizona, from the first storm, the lower elevations will average between 0.25 to 0.50 of an inch of rain with up to an inch possible in lower elevations of the Rim Country," Clark pointed out.
Similar rainfall is expected in New Mexico.
As is often the case any time it rains in the desert and on the intermediate rocky hillsides, there is a risk of flash flooding.
Clark expects snow levels to fall later Thursday night into Friday, reaching between 5,000 and 5,500 feet with a foot or more of snow possible at elevations above 7,000 feet.

Snow will fall on the upper reaches of the Grand Canyon with this storm. (Photos.com image)

A few inches of snow will fall at elevations above 5,500 feet from Arizona to northern New Mexico.
However, the heaviest snow, perhaps up to a couple of feet, will fall on the mountains in southwestern Colorado.
Perhaps even before the snow from the first storm comes to an end, rain and snow will sweep into the Southwest from a second storm over the weekend.

At this time for the interior Southwest, the second storm will not have as much moisture to work with, so precipitation will tend to be lighter and more spotty in nature.
The region has had a very dry autumn and any rain or snow will be highly welcomed from a hydrological standpoint.
As of Thursday morning, the storm has delivered an inch of rain in the San Diego area with about 0.25 to 0.50 of an inch of rain in the Los Angeles Basin.
"Since Oct. 1, Phoenix has received only 3 percent of its normal precipitation, Tucson, Ariz. has had only 2 percent and even Flagstaff, Ariz. has picked up only half its normal rain and snow," Clark said.