Massive California storm to move into Arizona by Friday, rain, snow expected

PHOENIX — A massive storm that walloped California this week is expected to move into Arizona by Friday, bringing some rain and snow to the state.

However, the National Weather Service said the storm is expected to blow itself out in the Golden State — which has seen dangerous flooding and blizzards — and won’t have much punch when it rolls into Arizona.

High-res model precipitation forecast. Let the rain begin! Looks like best chances in se Cali and sw AZ tonight into tomorrow #azwx #cawx pic.twitter.com/yCGXkDyQFE

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) January 13, 2017

“Definitely on the lighter side —  a quarter-inch may be pushing it for some locations,” Jessica Nolte with the weather service said. “A lot of that moisture is going to get wrung out over California.”

The forecast is calls for a 20 percent chance of rain in Phoenix on Friday and as high as 30 percent on Saturday. However, Nolte isn’t expecting a lot of rain.

“Friday, there may be a few hundredths (of an inch of rain) that folks across the Arizona deserts may see and then an additional five-hundredths to maybe to a tenth of an inch during the day Saturday,” she said.

The storm will not drop temperatures much. Thursday’s high should be about 65 degrees and Saturday’s will be just a couple degrees cooler at 62.

Flagstaff could get a little snow from the storm. The weather service is calling for about an inch of accumulation, if not less. There is a 40 percent chance of snow that begins Thursday and goes to Saturday night.

High temperatures in the northern Arizona city are expected to remain about 40 degrees with lows in the upper 20s.

KTAR’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.

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