Mountain snow, valley rain finally coming to the southwestern US
There is the potential for this to be the biggest storm of the season for some areas, with rain and mountain snow rolling into the southwestern United States early this week.
Overnight snow hit Dacono, Colorado, and other areas through the morning with more on the way.
A storm that soaked much of Southern California this past weekend will swing inland and bring the first decent rain and mountain snow to parts of the Southwest in weeks, if not months, before the end of January, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
Las Vegas has not had more than a few drops of rain since July 13, with the city currently experiencing its second-longest dry spell in history. At 196 days, as of Sunday, it is second only to a stretch of 240 dry days set in 2020. Records date back to 1948.
"Las Vegas is likely to have more rain from this storm than any storm since March," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist John Feerick said. The mid-March storm brought about 0.75 of an inch of rain to McCarran International Airport. The southern Nevada desert city's historical average annual rainfall is 4.21 inches.
Showers will also make their way across the deserts of Southern California and Nevada as well as the arid locations of Arizona and New Mexico early this week. Showers are in the forecast for Palm Springs, California, and Phoenix.
The same storm is also dragging in plenty of cold air. Several inches of snow are forecast to pile up in the mountains of Southern California and then spread into the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico from Monday to Tuesday night.
Enough snow will fall on the higher elevations of Interstate 40 to make for slippery conditions and slow travel. Similar problems are likely along stretches of I-17 and I-25 in the Southwest.
Several inches of snow will pile up in the mountains north of Phoenix, including in the Flagstaff, Arizona, area.
After the storm crosses the mountains in the southwestern U.S. by midweek, it will gain new moisture and energy over the southern Plains. From there, a large swath of snow, wintry mix and rain will develop in New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas.
Heavier snow may extend back across northern and central New Mexico, especially over the southern High Plains and mountains.
For many of the ski resorts in the Southwest, this will be the biggest snowstorm since November. In some areas, it will be the biggest storm of the winter season.
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