The New Year Brings Snow to the Southwest

The start to the new year was white for some areas of the southwest United States, as snow fell in southern California, Arizona, and even Las Vegas. An amplified jet stream pattern has allowed much cooler temperatures to reach the southwest region, with a cutoff low working to create necessary lift for precipitation.

In Arizona, snow levels dropped to about 2500 feet by Thursday morning, according to CBS 5 Chief Meteorologist Chris Dunn. The cold air feeding this system allowed for rare snow to fall in areas that most of us here in Kentucky probably thought never could receive snow.

MT @NWSFlagstaff: Here's a list of storm total snowfall amounts across cntrl and nrn AZ. #azwx #NewYearsStorm pic.twitter.com/DapeSCnke2

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) January 1, 2015

Below are some beautiful pictures captured from the “New Year’s Storm”.

The last #sunset of 2014 Grand Canyon Yavapai Point #grandcanyon #NationalPark #NewYearsStorm -mq pic.twitter.com/AXo46m0CFi

— Grand Canyon NPS (@GrandCanyonNPS) January 1, 2015

#FourPeaks as seen from the south (and a little bird on a cactus) #NewYearsStorm #Arizona pic.twitter.com/dO8n1N73en

— AzSandi (@azmatthews) January 1, 2015

Beautiful! RT @ArizonaDOT SR 89A just north of #Sedona. It's open up to Flagstaff, but icy. #NewYearsStorm pic.twitter.com/jlOsYhH3Hr

— jswolfe (@jswolfe) January 1, 2015

Happy New Year! As of 10am all South Rim #grandcanyon roads are open. All roads snow-packed & icy. DRIVE SAFE -mq pic.twitter.com/nSld89rTJy

— Grand Canyon NPS (@GrandCanyonNPS) January 1, 2015

Snow (snow!) in #Arizona, even Maricopa County http://t.co/bEfL9cWFrH pic.twitter.com/K3ZiaHPx0b

— azcentral (@azcentral) January 1, 2015