This second weekend of March is being dominated by a storm whose chilly magnitude is more reminiscent of January, squeezing out heavy mountain snow (at relatively low elevations given the time of year) and thundershowers with hail. Its impact has been nothing short of amazing. Over an inch of snow fell in the hills northeast of Malibu, Calif. Two feet of snow has fallen at Big Bear Lake, northeast of Los Angeles. Whiteout conditions were reported below Cajon Pass on I-5 and I-215. Snow covered I-10 just west of Palm Springs, Calif. The San Diego metro area also took a hard hit. Pea-size hail up an inch deep accumulated near Carlsbad Saturday afternoon thanks to a thunderstorm. A flood-control channel was overtopped along I-8 in the east San Diego metro. Heavy snow shut down I-8 in the San Diego County mountains. This same sledgehammer storm also put an abrupt end to the record dry streak in Phoenix, Ariz. It had been dry (not even a trace of rain) the past 143 days at Sky Harbor Airport. The last rain was recorded on October 18. As of midday Saturday, around ¾ of an inch had fallen, and another ½ to 1 inch of rain could fall through early Sunday. Due to all the rain, afternoon temperatures lingered in the middle 40s in the valley, an average high more reminiscent of, say, Detroit this time of year. The first heavy snowfall of this parched winter season will continue to hammer the Mogollon Rim of Arizona through at least the first half of Sunday. Heavy snow warnings continue there. By the end of this event, Flagstaff could have 1-2 feet of new snow. This is impressive considering they had a paltry 2” of snow for the season before this storm. Significant snow will also blanket the rest of the Four Corners, namely southern Utah, southern Colorado, and northern New Mexico.