Name: Heavy Snow in Arizona, March 18 to 19, 2020
Start: 2020-03-18T14:00
End: 2020-03-19T02:00
Location: Arizona

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS TWC wrote it up.

A winter storm brought a foot of snow to the high country of northern Greenlee County from the afternoon of the 18th into the early morning hours of the 19th. This weather system also brought light to moderate snow to other mountains in southeast Arizona and general rain amounts of a half to one inch across the lower elevations.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tucson, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 17, 3:30 PM MST, 22 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 17, 3:30 PM MST, 22 hours 30 minutes before

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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, White Mountains of Graham and Greenlee Counties

When: March 18, 2:00 PM MST to March 19, 2:00 AM MST
Where: White Mountains of Graham and Greenlee Counties forecast zone
Reported by: Department of Highways
Coordinates: 33.074, -109.563 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Snow began on the afternoon of the 18th and became heavy at times, with a foot of snow accumulation reported by mid evening according to the Beaver Head SNOTEL. Snow continued into the early morning hours of the 19th. Total accumulations of 10 to 13 inches were recorded and ADOT reported a foot of snow on Highway 191.

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Arizona in 2020 Every state in 2020 This day in weather history Warnings in Arizona, March 2020

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 882303.