When it comes to exciting weather days that Arizona has had through the years, Jan. 17 would be pretty close to the top of that list.
The exciting weather date sparked a weather trivia segment on Today in AZ Thursday morning which addressed what weather events have happened on Jan. 17. The multiple choice answers were either snow, a tornado, flooding or all of the above.
Popular answers were snow and a tornado with our own Paul Gerke changing his "all of the above" answer at the last minute.
The answer? All of the above, sorry Paul.
On this day (Jan. 17) in weather history there has been a tornado, snow in Phoenix and the "most widespread and severe flooding in Arizona since the turn of the century."
In 1987, from Jan. 15 through Jan. 18 a "very strong" (according to the National Weather Service) winter storm passed over Arizona. One to two feet of snow fell along the Mogollon Rim and the White Mountains. Snow fell in Phoenix and Tucson saw over four inches of snow.
"A 120 mile stretch of Interstate 10 was closed east of Tucson on the 17th due to ice and snow," NWS writes. "Two fatalities were attributed to the ice and snow."
On Jan. 17, 1993, a F2 tornado struck the Phoenix area. NWS says air traffic controllers at the Scottsdale airport watched the tornado move through a north Scottsdale neighborhood. Numerous trees and signs along with nearly 20 Valley homes were damaged.
"Most of the damage occurred when the tornado moved east from 59th Street and Clinton to 72nd Street and Cholla," NWS said.
And over the course of two weeks in 1993, including Jan. 17, an "unusual series" of storms moves across the state from the Pacific.
"These heavy rains caused the most widespread and severe flooding in Arizona since the turn of the century," NWS said. "The highest flows of record were observed at some streamflow gauging stations in every major river basin in the state."
NWS Phoenix said the Mill Avenue bridge, which was under construction at the time, was washed away along with a landfill by the "raging Salt River." The Gillespie Dam was damaged and one man drowned attempting to cross the Agua Fria River.
As for Jan. 17, 2019, precipitation is expected, mainly for northern Arizona, for later in the day. If rain does fall in the Valley, it's expected to be light and spotty.