Feb. 11 (UPI) — Forecasters issued a winter storm advisory for parts of eastern New Mexico on Sunday as the remnants of a massive atmospheric river storm that pummeled California last week move east, with the Texas Panhandle and central Oklahoma in its path.
The National Weather Service warned of icy, snow-packed roads and potentially dangerous travel as the slow-moving front headed east, giving parts of New Mexico their first measurable snowfall of the year and dumping more than 3 feet of snow over three days in northern Arizona.
Arizona Snowbowl, a ski hill in Flagstaff’s 12,600 foot San Francisco peaks range, welcomed 55 inches from the recent storms, bringing its snowfall total to 140 inches this season.
All lifts and trails at the ski area were open Sunday, and the hill has not resorted to making artificial snow, thanks to the new snowfall.
Farther south, a rogue thunderstorm, replete with dangerous flashes of lightning and blowing hail, dropped a strange mix of wind, rain and freezing slush, known as graupel , on parts of suburban Phoenix and left neighborhoods and intersections covered in a blanket of wet, sloppy slush, but gave the appearance of freshly fallen snow at night.