Powerful Storm Brings Substantial Precipitation to the State From During 1 - 5 April

April got off to a wet, and in a few locations, a white start as two storms and a back door cold front combined to bring significant precipitation to the entire state from late on the 1st into the 5th.  The first storm moved across Baja California on the 1st and weakened as it crossed the state on the 2nd.  Meanwhile a much stronger storm settled into Arizona on the 3rd and remained there through the 4th before heading into New Mexico on the 5th, and exiting the eastern part of the state on the 6th.  Meanwhile, a cold front pressed into the northeast late on the 2nd and moved south on the 3rd.  The infrared satellite loop above and to the left shows the clouds and associated moisture over the state on the 2nd, as the 2nd storm organized well to the west.  The water vapor satellite image above and in the middle shows the moisture over New Mexico on the 3rd, as the main storm sits over southern Arizona.  The visible satellite loop above and to the right shows extensive clouds over the state on the 4th.  Note how the clouds are rotating around the storm still anchored over Arizona.  The surface image to the right is depicts the dew points on the morning of the 3rd.  Recall that dew points are a measure of the amount of moisture in the air.  The three radar images below are from the 2nd (left image is from the morning and center one from the afternoon) and 3rd (right image - from the morning).  Much of the precipitation that formed over the state set up in bands.  The west to east bands on the morning of the 2nd (below-left) shifted to a more northwest to southeast orientation by the afternoon of the 2nd (below-center), then lined up in a north-south fashion on the 3rd (below-right).  These bands of precipitation meant a long duration of precipitation over the same area in many cases.  This resulted in some impressive 4 to 5 day rain amounts across the state.  Some of the rainfall totals are listed in both tabular and graphical forms below.  Not all of the precipitation was liquid, as snow fell over the Sangre De Cristo mountains and northeast highlands.  A few of the more impressive snowfall totals included a report of 3 feet in Gascon, along with around 7 inches in Red River and Eagle Nest.