A big winter storm is heading to Arizona just ahead of Christmas.
Friday is an ABC15 Weather Action Day with widespread rain impacting travel around the Valley and across the state. This will impact outdoor activities and could cause some Christmas events to be canceled. Take action now to get ready for this storm.
Ponding water and roadway flooding will be possible across the Valley and there is also chance of isolated flash flooding across parts of central and southwestern Arizona.
A Flood Watch is in effect from 6 a.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday for all of central and southwestern Arizona, including the Phoenix metro area.
Cities across the Phoenix metro area could see anywhere from a half an inch to over an inch of rain through the weekend, with the bulk of it falling on Friday.
Travel will become hazardous across the high country too, especially once snow begins to accumulate on the roads.
This storm will be fairly warm, so snow levels will stay near 8,000 feet through Friday. We'll see them drop to 7,000 feet on Saturday before falling to 5,500 feet late Saturday into Sunday as another storm system approaches with colder air from Utah.
Flagstaff and other areas along the Mogollon Rim will mostly see rain through Friday, but by Saturday into Sunday it will switch to snow as the colder air arrives.
Winter Storm Watches and Winter Weather Advisories take effect 8 p.m. Friday night and last until 5 p.m. Saturday for parts of eastern Arizona above 8,000 feet, including the Chuska Mountains and White Mountains.
Right now, we are tracking the possibility of one to three inches of snow in Flagstaff, Pinetop-Lakeside and other areas along the Mogollon Rim just in time for Christmas!
Showers will wind down across our state on Christmas Eve and we're looking dry across most of the state on Christmas Day.
Temperatures get much cooler, too. The Valley will see highs drop into the mid-60s over Christmas weekend.
