Yikes! Yikes! Yikes! More Western Storms!

[3113]

Snow! Rain! Hail!

A winter storm pummeled the western U.S. on Thursday with fierce wind gusts, heavy rain and more than 2 feet of snow, closing hundreds of miles of roads and dumping a snowy mix of precipitation on the edges of Phoenix....Snow and ice forced an hours-long closure of the two major thoroughfares in northern Arizona, stranding motorists south of Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. People in Phoenix were stunned at the sight of snow-type flurries that the National Weather Service said were a combination of hail and snow that melts before it hits the ground.

...The weather service said snow could fall at a rate close to an inch an hour starting Thursday evening in the Denver area, which usually has around 25 inches of snow by this time of the season but had just 1.5 inches so far. United Airlines, the dominant carrier at Denver International Airport, canceled 32 United and United Express flights from Denver on Thursday, spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said. Major highways were also shut down in parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Nevada.

Forecasters said strong winds in California were expected to die down by early Friday, allowing a cold air mass to create frost and freeze problems in the region. Phoenix braced for freezing overnight temperatures as well, a rarity in the desert city...Residents in the Phoenix area couldn't believe what they were seeing when white stuff starting falling from the sky. The wintry mixture of snow and hail had the appearance of snowflakes.

Southwestern New Mexico was being hit with blizzard conditions that were forecast to continue through midnight Thursday. Winds of up to 65 mph, heavy snow and rapidly falling temperatures made travel difficult if not impossible, forecasters said.
The California Highway Patrol reported downed trees on various Los Angeles-area freeways and streets. One gust north of Los Angeles was clocked at 94 mph.

New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada and California folk, please check in here for igloo-making instructions and ulta-warming emergency mochas!

http://img4.sunset.com/i/2009/01/coffee-0209/coffee-keoke-mocha-fudge-l.jpg?400:400

They're predicting rain for Saturday--and temps down in the 40's! What will happen to the rose parade?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2153/2206001785_25b8438f55.jpg

 

[Stella_Omega]

My roof has been covered with a big blue tarp-- The wind had a ball with it all night. By this morning it had folded itself into threes, and tossed itself half off the roof. We'll have to get it back up tomorrow, I guess.

 

[Weird Harold]

I don't think I can make an igloo out of the only lonely litte snowflake that stuck to my driver's side window while I was out spending my christmas gift cards. It was a pitiful little thing, about one milimeter across and it lasted less than a minute against the warm glass of the window.

There were other snowflakes in the air, but they all wimped out and turned to tiny water droplets as soon as they hit something solid. The "snowstorm" only covered about three blocks and/or lasted as long as it takes to drive three blocks in light traffic.

(other areas of the valley have reported more wintery effects, but I've actually seen more snow in april and june than I saw tonight. )

 

[Guest]

*deleted*

 

[R. Richard]

Where I live, we have perhaps a quarter of an inch of snow currently on the ground. Unfortunately, much of the snow has been crushed down into ice and the footing is treacherous.

We won't see a 40 degree high for at least a few days and we might get down to minus degrees, although probably not -40 degrees.