Flagstaff’s winter storm was expected to drop more than a foot of snow Monday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a winter storm warning through late Tuesday morning.

Tony Merriman, a meterologist with National Weather Service Flagstaff, says residents should only leave home for essential reasons.

"It looks like we’ll still have a few lingering snow showers around tomorrow, and it looks like we’ll be clearing out by Wednesday," said Merriman. 

Merriman also says University of Northern Arizona and Flagstaff Unified School District are closed as the city works to clear the roads. 

Severe winter weather conditions in Arizona’s high country have made traveling there extremely dangerous. Major roads have closed due to the heavy snowfall and are expected to stay closed until conditions calm. 

Douglas Nick is with the Arizona Department of Transportation. 

“ADOT right now is urging people to avoid travel if at all possible because we need to get the roads cleared and we don’t want to see people finding themselves in dangerous situations, because this is a fairly significant storm that’s going to be affecting travel for a bit of time here.” 

State Routes 260 and 87 along the Mogollon Rim and 89A near Sedona are all closed. ADOT warns people needing to travel to be prepared for sudden changes to driving conditions.