Winter Weather — Western Mogollon Rim, Arizona

2011-12-01 to 2011-12-02 · Western Mogollon Rim, Arizona

Event narrative

Snow began to fall by mid morning and increased in the afternoon. Interstate 40 was closed in both directions for the afternoon Thursday as Arizona Department of Transportation worked with officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety to remove the debris from a number of crashes in the eastbound lanes. There were five different collisions with the largest involving nine vehicles. The was a 16 mile backup. One driver reported being delayed 11 hours. West bound lanes became blocked when vehicles could not make it up the hill just west of the I-17 interchange. Eight people were transported to the Flagstaff Medical Center. North bound I-17 was also blocked for a time due to collisions blocking the roadway. Highway 180 north of Flagstaff was blocked for a time because of a jack-knifed semi. Some snowfall totals include (inches): Bellemont 10.5, Flagstaff Airport 6.5, Mormon Lake 5, Munds Park 4, and 4 miles south of Williams 4.

Wider weather episode

A low pressure area slowly moving through the Great Basin and Colorado brought snow to northern Arizona. Over a foot of snow fell over portions of the Mogollon Rim where the upslope flow enhanced the snowfall.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 358730. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.