US weather chaos: Snow falls in Arizona desert as freak conditions hit States
SNOW has fallen in Arizona and other western parts of the United States more commonly associated with desert conditions, with several inches recorded in some areas.
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And in a bizarre weather “flip”, parts of traditionally chilly Alaska saw the New Year in with relatively mild temperatures. In Phoenix, the overnight low was 30 degrees for the first time in five years and more cold temperatures were expected Thursday. The Tucson area saw as much as six inches of snow.
It was pretty magical
Jessica Howard, a resident of Vail, a suburb of the city, was delighted at after being able to take her children, aged eight and five, to build snowmen and throw snowball.
She said: “It was pretty magical.
“My social media feeds are like 100 percent snow pictures right now.”
Snow dusted cactuses and mountains in southern Arizona and covered the Grand Canyon in the north.
The State’s Department of Public Safety tweeted that troopers were busy with crashes and vehicles sliding off roads in Cochise, Santa Cruz, Pima, Graham and Greenlee counties.
Elsewhere, the National Weather Service issued a freeze warning in the Nevada county where Las Vegas is located.
Snow fell and stuck Tuesday on a desert highway over a mountain just 20 minutes outside Sin City.
Albuquerque, New Mexico, saw heavy snowfall and icy roads that caused many government agencies and schools to close.
Glenn Lader, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Tucson, said cold weather and snow is “quite uncommon” for the area.
Nogales, an Arizona city on the Mexico border, also had about six inches of snow, he said.
Even Southern California, famously hot and sunny all year round, got in on the action, with rain expected as part of already cold, windy weather.
Meanwhile, some parts of Alaska rang in the new year with relatively balmy weather for the region that helped melt snow in Anchorage.
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A change in the jet stream brought warmer air from the south, taking the temperature to 42 degrees on New Year’s Day in the city, the scene of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake at the end of November which caused significant damage to roads and infrastructure.
The uncommonly mild weather came as a welcome respite from a winter mix which left 32.6 inches of snow on the ground Anchorage in December, with most of it falling during the last half of the month.
Colder weather was in the forecast, with high temperatures dropping to the teens or even single digits.
Snow in the desert is unusual but not unheard of.
Last year, more than 15 inches blanketed blanketed sand dunes across the small town of Ain Sefra, Algeria, with stunning images of snow in the Sahara desert.