First Alert Weather: Nearly all of Arizona covered by snow, rain storms

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - We started out our morning with a few morning clouds and lows in the lower 50′s, and this afternoon we will only see a high temperature of 63 degrees.

That is 11 degrees below our average which is typically around 74 degrees. It’s already been a very active day across Arizona with rain and mountain snow, hence the First Alert Weather Day issued for today. This potent system will bring strong winds, Valley rainfall, and some serious snow in the mountains. When it comes to the winds, we are expecting sustained winds out of the west blowing around 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph here in the Phoenix area and stronger winds in the mountains. The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory until 9 p.m. tonight.

Rainfall amounts in the lower elevations will be around a quarter of an inch to a half inch. Rain will start this afternoon, and we will continue to see a chance of rain through tomorrow morning. When it comes to the snowfall the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning until 11 a.m. tomorrow morning. Snow will become heavy at times this afternoon and evening, we could even see blizzard conditions with the strong winds up North as well. Areas above 5,000 like Flagstaff could end up with 12″ to 22″ of snow, travel will be very difficult in these areas.

Once this storm rolls through we will see calmer weather starting Thursday afternoon. Thursday will be a cool one with high temps in the upper 50s. In fact, we are going to see temperatures stay below average through Sunday, but the sun will make a nice return this weekend.

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