Parts of the high country, including Flagstaff, are expecting more snow this weekend.
WHAT TO EXPECT: Back-to-back storms headed to Arizona this week!
While it's exciting to see, the Arizona Department of Transportation has a warning as you make plans to visit ahead of the holidays.
Doug Nintzel, with ADOT, says Interstate 17 from the Camp Verde or Sedona area up to Flagstaff and Interstate 40 are often hit the hardest with snow. While it's "all hands on deck" to remove as much as they can as quickly as possible, he says drivers still need to check ahead of time and wait it out before heading into a storm.
He referenced the drive from Kingman to Flagstaff as a typical trouble spot.
“Snowplows, they’re not always able to keep up with say the severe conditions," Nintzel said. "Plus, if you have a line of traffic that has suddenly come to a stop then it’s hard for them to do their jobs and that’s where we have people stuck in the middle of the night."
He also wants to remind drivers to not trail too closely behind a plow and don't pass one unless it pulls over.
Data from Arizona DPS shows there were over 1,000 crashes last year on snow or icy Arizona freeways. Nintzel says he believes many of them were preventable.
"Really it comes down to keeping your speeds under control and staying alert, especially in those winter conditions," he said.
ADOT has snowplows stationed all across the state of Arizona, including the Phoenix area. He says 400 ADOT employees are trained to use them.
Nintzel says in February of 2013, one of their Mesa-based plows was even called out to assist when graupel blanketed the Loop 101 freeway in Scottsdale.
