Today the sun is out but temps dropped down below freezing last night. There is what we call and atmospheric river forming off the coast of California and will be hitting us soon. These are notoriously warm, more tropical like storms. The snow will act like a sponge up to a point but once it becomes saturated, the melt will start. When the snow melts at a normal rate, it is absorbed into the ground and fills the natural aquafers but if it melts fast, it will run off with a vengeance.
The desert is a different animal altogether. It takes little water to become saturated and the water begins to find the lowest point quickly taking the easiest path which means that rivers appear out of nowhere. These are what are known as flash floods. We did get snow above 5000 feet yesterday but I don't think it's enough to be a problem. However, when a 1/4" of rain causes standing water to form that does not go away for several days, a storm delivering an inch of rain will cause flooding. That's where we could be if this next storm has the moisture in it that they are predicting.
Crews are out this morning burning tumbleweed out of the flood control ditches so you know we're all thinking this might be a bad one.