>>>now to the latest skirmish in the battle over
electronic devices
on airplanes. and what some passengers are seeing as a kind of a
double standard
here. now that we have learned pilots will be allowed to use ipads in the cockpit. our report from nbc's tom costello.
>> reporter: for pilots, the new ipad flight bag will replace those 45-pound briefcases stuffed with paper versions of constantly changing flight manuals, navigational charts and airport layouts.
>>that's
frankfurt airport
.
>> reporter: the f.a.a. says these ipads and applications have been proven safe for the cockpit but the f.a.a. demands that the wifi
internet connection
must remain off.
>>we have been testing now for six months with literally no issue.
>> reporter: it was just a week ago that
american airlines
kicked
alec baldwin
off a flight for refusing to turn off his iphone before takeoff, something he was playing up on "saturday night live."
>>don't phones interfere with the plane's
communication system
?
>>oh, you don't believe that, do you, seth?
>> reporter: we asked boeing's senior engineer dave carson. how can a pilot be used on the
flight deck
but not in the cabin?
>>it's a good question. i can understand why people would ask it. that ipad, tablet or computer is in the control of the airline. they maintain it. they assure if something goes wrong wit, it's fixed.
>> reporter: the f.a.a. prohibits
electronic devices
below 10,000 feet because those are the most critical moments for an aircraft, takeoff and landing when the pilot has
little time
to react if interference were to disrupt navigational equipment. while a modern aircraft may be able to tolerate a handful of electronics what if dozens were left on or perhaps?
>>nobody in the industry has tested the effects of, say, 200
cell phones
on at one time.
>> reporter: despite skepticism the f.a.a. says they must remain off for now, erring on the side of caution. tom costello, nbc news, washington.
Physics strikes the right note with classical musiciansPublic release date: 15-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 01-179-301-032 Institute of Physics
The combination of physics and music might usually prompt images of Brian Cox playing keyboards for D:Ream, but a new trio, consisting of a professor of physics, an internationally renowned composer and an award-winning violinist, are bringing particle physics to life through a series of classical compositions.
An insight into their work, aptly named "Particle Partitas", is revealed in an exclusive video report on physicsworld.com [http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/multimedia/47845], where the trio show the creative processes at work and tentatively attempt to play a few bars for the first time.
Jack Liebeck, a Classical BRIT award winner, and Brian Foster, a particle physicist at the University of Oxford, are no strangers to the fusion of physics and music: for the last six years they have been touring a self-created "musical lecture" that explores Einstein's legacy to physics.
Their newly recruited composer, Edward Cowie, is also aware of the crossover between the two disciplines, having originally studied physics at Imperial College London.
"The music is shaped by the activity of particle physics. In terms of the way subatomic particles are observable in their collisions, in their traces, in their impacts, music can do the same thing. You can make music that has a device into which it is forced to impact fragments fly off it and they have behaviours, which can parallel," explains Cowie in the video.
This new series of 20 short musical pieces, documenting the history of particle physics from the late 19th century through to the present day, will be accompanied by short lectures on the topic given by Foster. It will debut in the UK in June 2012 and Foster also hopes to take the show abroad to particle physicists at CERN.
###
Please mention Physics World as the source of these items and, if publishing online, please include a hyperlink to: http://physicsworld.com
Notes for editors:
1. Physics World is the international monthly magazine published by the Institute of Physics. For further information or details of its editorial programme, please contact the editor, Dr Matin Durrani, on tel 44-117-930-1002. The magazine's website physicsworld.com is updated regularly and contains physics news, views and resources. Visit http://physicsworld.com.
2. The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society promoting physics and bringing physicists together for the benefit of all.
It has a worldwide membership of around 40 000 comprising physicists from all sectors, as well as those with an interest in physics. It works to advance physics research, application and education; and engages with policymakers and the public to develop awareness and understanding of physics. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in professional scientific communications. Go to http://www.iop.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Physics strikes the right note with classical musiciansPublic release date: 15-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 01-179-301-032 Institute of Physics
The combination of physics and music might usually prompt images of Brian Cox playing keyboards for D:Ream, but a new trio, consisting of a professor of physics, an internationally renowned composer and an award-winning violinist, are bringing particle physics to life through a series of classical compositions.
An insight into their work, aptly named "Particle Partitas", is revealed in an exclusive video report on physicsworld.com [http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/multimedia/47845], where the trio show the creative processes at work and tentatively attempt to play a few bars for the first time.
Jack Liebeck, a Classical BRIT award winner, and Brian Foster, a particle physicist at the University of Oxford, are no strangers to the fusion of physics and music: for the last six years they have been touring a self-created "musical lecture" that explores Einstein's legacy to physics.
Their newly recruited composer, Edward Cowie, is also aware of the crossover between the two disciplines, having originally studied physics at Imperial College London.
"The music is shaped by the activity of particle physics. In terms of the way subatomic particles are observable in their collisions, in their traces, in their impacts, music can do the same thing. You can make music that has a device into which it is forced to impact fragments fly off it and they have behaviours, which can parallel," explains Cowie in the video.
This new series of 20 short musical pieces, documenting the history of particle physics from the late 19th century through to the present day, will be accompanied by short lectures on the topic given by Foster. It will debut in the UK in June 2012 and Foster also hopes to take the show abroad to particle physicists at CERN.
###
Please mention Physics World as the source of these items and, if publishing online, please include a hyperlink to: http://physicsworld.com
Notes for editors:
1. Physics World is the international monthly magazine published by the Institute of Physics. For further information or details of its editorial programme, please contact the editor, Dr Matin Durrani, on tel 44-117-930-1002. The magazine's website physicsworld.com is updated regularly and contains physics news, views and resources. Visit http://physicsworld.com.
2. The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society promoting physics and bringing physicists together for the benefit of all.
It has a worldwide membership of around 40 000 comprising physicists from all sectors, as well as those with an interest in physics. It works to advance physics research, application and education; and engages with policymakers and the public to develop awareness and understanding of physics. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in professional scientific communications. Go to http://www.iop.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
WARSAW, Poland ? Of all the twists in Europe's debt crisis one of the oddest must be this: Poles, Czechs and other eastern Europeans, long the recipients of massive amounts of Western aid, are being asked to contribute to an emergency fund for indebted Western European states.
That plan, decided at a European Union summit Friday, is sparking resistance ? and some outrage ? from eastern Europeans who see a huge injustice in being asked to sacrifice for countries that still enjoy much greater wealth, even with mountains of state debt.
Czech and Slovak leaders have spoken out against the plan ? sentiment also being voiced in more emotional language by people across the region.
"This must be some kind of bad joke," said Jonas Vaicys, a math teacher in Lithuania, an ex-Soviet state still recovering from a huge hit taken in the financial crisis of 2008-09. "Lithuania itself is on the verge of asking for international help, not donating money to some fund."
The plan is one of several measures that EU leaders agreed to as they struggle to pull Europe out of its debt crisis. It involves EU members providing up to euro200 billion in loans to the International Monetary Fund to empower it to bail out indebted states. The bulk would come from eurozone members, but even those members who don't use the shared currency are being asked for help.
Hungary and Romania won't contribute because they are still paying the IMF back for past bailouts. And Bulgaria ? the EU's poorest member ? says its has nothing to offer.
But several other ex-communist countries now face an obligation to make reserves from their central banks available to the IMF as loans.
This marks quite a change for a part of Europe that has depended for years on Western aid to overcome the crippling economic legacy of communism. That their help is now sought signals just how far they have come after years of investment and high growth.
Some in this region argue that gratitude alone should prompt them to contribute to the fund without complaining.
But despite years of economic progress, the standard of living across central and eastern Europe still lags far behind the West, and many are loath to go along with the IMF plan.
Poland, for instance, has a debt load much lower than that of Greece and Italy ? but this is also because the state simply doesn't provide the generous welfare benefits to its people that many take for granted in the West. Wages, jobless benefits and baby bonuses are all just a fraction of what they are in much of the West.
Now, asking these countries to spare funds for indebted eurozone members could create a popular backlash against any governments that contribute ? especially as their own economies are already feeling the pain from the broader European crisis.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said he is personally against contributing the roughly 90 billion koruna (euro3.5 billion; $4.6 billion) his country has been asked for. But he also said more analysis is needed before his government reaches a decision.
"It's a serious situation and a very complicated financial problem," Necas said Tuesday. "A considerable amount of money is involved."
In Slovakia, Jozef Kollar, a leader of Freedom and Solidarity ? a center-right party in the government ? said he has an "overall negative" view of the plan. He called it a "weird transaction" pushed through by German and French leaders to get more money for an EU rescue fund without going through their parliaments.
The mood is different in Poland, where the pro-EU government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the central bank favor contributing. Leaders in Warsaw hope to adopt the euro one day, and argue that the survival of the eurozone ? a source of large EU subsidies and a key trade partner ? is crucial to Poland's own continued growth and modernization.
"A collapse of the eurozone would be an economic disaster for us," central bank president Marek Belka said Tuesday.
Poland, the largest of the new EU members, is also trying to establish itself as a leading European power ? and therefore simply wants to be in the game.
The popular view is different, however.
Poland's leading tabloid, Fakt, has tried to stir up a sense of outrage over what it depicts as an absurd injustice. It carried front-page stories Tuesday and Wednesday that compare the low wages in Poland ? which it put at 1,400 zlotys ($410) a month for minimum wage work ? with salaries two or three times as high in Greece and Italy.
"And we are supposed to pay for their luxuries?" the paper asked in big letters across its front page Tuesday.
Emotion aside, other arguments against contributing to the fund are also coming up.
Tomas Vlk, an analyst with Patria Finance in Prague, worries that participation could "worsen the Czech position in the eyes of rating agencies."
That, in turn, could make it more expensive for Prague to finance its own state debt.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus, known for his skepticism of the EU, said he opposes contributing. He argued that doing so would add to the country's own debt problems ? even though central bank loans to the IMF do not come from government budgets, and do not have a direct effect on state debt.
"In this situation, it would be irresponsible to increase our debt by providing more loans to the countries with extreme debts, which would only allow them to further delay real solutions," Klaus said Monday on Czech public radio.
___
Janicek contributed from Prague, Czech Republic. Associated Press writer Liudas Dapkus also contributed from Vilnius, Lithuania.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2011) ? The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope has picked up the fastest rotating star found so far. This massive bright young star lies in our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160,000 light-years from Earth. Astronomers think that it may have had a violent past and has been ejected from a double star system by its exploding companion.
An international team of astronomers has been using ESO's Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, to make a survey of the heaviest and brightest stars in the Tarantula Nebula, in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Among the many brilliant stars in this stellar nursery the team has spotted one, called VFTS 102 [1], that is rotating at more than two million kilometres per hour -- more than three hundred times faster than the Sun [2] and very close to the point at which it would be torn apart due to centrifugal forces. VFTS 102 is the fastest rotating star known to date [3].
The astronomers also found that the star, which is around 25 times the mass of the Sun and about one hundred thousand times brighter, was moving through space at a significantly different speed from its neighbours [4].
"The remarkable rotation speed and the unusual motion compared to the surrounding stars led us to wonder if this star had had an unusual early life. We were suspicious." explains Philip Dufton (Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK), lead author of the paper presenting the results.
This difference in speed could imply that VFTS 102 is a runaway star -- a star that has been ejected from a double star system after its companion exploded as a supernova. This idea is supported by two further clues: a pulsar and an associated supernova remnant in its vicinity [5].
The team has developed a possible back story for this very unusual star. It could have started life as one component of a binary star system. If the two stars were close, gas from the companion could have streamed over and in the process the star would have spun faster and faster. This would explain one unusual fact -- why it is rotating so fast. After a short lifetime of about ten million years, the massive companion would have exploded as a supernova -- which could explain the characteristic gas cloud known as a supernova remnant found nearby. The explosion would also have led to the ejection of the star and could explain the third anomaly -- the difference between its speed and that of other stars in the region. As it collapsed, the massive companion would have turned into the pulsar that is observed today, and which completes the solution to the puzzle.
Although the astronomers cannot yet be sure that this is exactly what happened, Dufton concludes "This is a compelling story because it explains each of the unusual features that we've seen. This star is certainly showing us unexpected sides of the short, but dramatic lives of the heaviest stars."
Notes:
[1] The name VFTS102 refers to the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey made using the Fibre Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) on ESO's Very Large Telescope.
[2] An aircraft travelling at this speed would take about one minute to circle Earth at the equator.
[3] Some stars end their lives as compact objects such as pulsars (see note [5]), which may spin much more rapidly than VFTS 102, but they are also very much smaller and denser and do not shine by thermonuclear reactions like normal stars.
[4] VFTS 102 is moving at roughly 228 kilometres per second, which is slower than other similar stars in the region by about 40 kilometres per second.
[5] Pulsars are the result of supernovae. The core of the star collapses to a very small size creating a neutron star which spins very rapidly and emits powerful jets of radiation. These jets create a regular "pulse" as seen from Earth as the star rotates around its axis. The associated supernova remnant is a characteristic cloud of gas blown away by the shock wave resulting from the collapse of the star into a neutron star.
More information
This research was presented in a paper in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, "The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey: The fastest rotating O-type star and shortest period LMC pulsar -- remnants of a supernova disrupted binary?," by Philip L. Dufton et al.
The team is composed of P.L. Dufton (Astrophysics Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast (ARC/QUB), UK), P.R. Dunstall (ARC/QUB, UK), C.J. Evans (UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh (ROE), UK), I. Brott (University of Vienna, Department of Astronomy, Austria), M. Cantiello (Argelander Institut fur Astronomie der Universitat Bonn, Germany, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, USA), A. de Koter (Astronomical Institute 'Anton Pannekoek', University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands), S.E. de Mink (Space Telescope Science Institute, USA), M. Fraser (ARC/QUB, UK), V. Henault-Brunet (Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA), Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, ROE, UK), I.D. Howarth (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, UK), N. Langer (Argelander Institut fur Astronomie der Universitat Bonn, Germany), D.J. Lennon (ESA, Space Telescope Science Institute, USA), N. Markova (Institute of Astronomy with NAO, Bulgaria), H. Sana (Astronomical Institute 'Anton Pannekoek', University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands), W.D. Taylor (SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, ROE, UK).
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Journal Reference:
P. L. Dufton, P. R. Dunstall, C. J. Evans, I. Brott, M. Cantiello, A. De Koter, S. E. de Mink, M. Fraser, V. H?nault-Brunet, I. D. Howarth, N. Langer, D. J. Lennon, N. Markova, H. Sana, W. D. Taylor. The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey: The fastest rotating O-type star and shortest period LMC pulsar -- remnants of a supernova disrupted binary?The Astrophysical Journal, 2011; 743 (1): L22 DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/743/1/L22
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MANCHESTER, N.H. ? With the implosion of Herman Cain's campaign amid accusations of adultery and sexual harassment, the once-crowded 2012 Republican presidential field appears to be narrowing to a two-man race between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
GOP voters have one month before the leadoff Iowa caucuses. Gingrich is showing strength in the latest Iowa poll, while Romney is strong in New Hampshire, site of the first primary.
Romney has maintained a political network since his failed 2008 presidential bid, especially in New Hampshire. Gingrich, whose campaign nearly collapsed several months ago, is relying on his debate performances and the good will he built up with some conservatives as a congressional leader in the 1980s and 1990s.
Gingrich's efforts appear to be paying off in Iowa. A Des Moines Register poll released late Saturday found the former House speaker leading the GOP field with 25 percent support, ahead of Ron Paul at 18 percent and Romney at 16.
Cain's suspension of his campaign Saturday, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry's continued struggles to make headway with voters, have focused the party's attention on Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, and Gingrich, a one-time congressman from Georgia. They offer striking contrasts in personality, government experience and campaign organization.
Their political philosophies and differences are a bit harder to discern. Both men have changed their positions on issues such as climate change. And Gingrich, in particular, is known to veer into unusual territories, such as child labor practices.
Romney has said he differs with Gingrich on child labor laws. Gingrich recently suggested that children as young as nine should work as assistant school janitors, to earn money and learn work ethics.
Leading the pack means drawing criticism from those in the rear, such as Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum. Consistently lagging in the polls, Santorum took swipes at both leaders Sunday on ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour".
Gingrich, he said, isn't a strong champion of conservative social values and puts them in "the back of the bus."
"He has never really been an advocate of pushing those issues. Newt is someone who likes to get issues that are 80 to 90 percent in the polls, and 80 percent in the polls are generally not necessarily conservative -- strong conservative issues. But that's how Newt is -- has always tried to govern. And I respect that."
Santorum acknowledged that Romney had become more conservative on issues, but questioned "whether he can be trusted."
"The best indication of what someone is going to do in the future is what they've done in the past," he said.
Cain's announcement in Atlanta offered a possible opening for Romney or Gingrich to make a dramatic move in hopes of seizing momentum for the sprint to the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus. Neither man did. They appear willing to play things carefully and low-key for now.
At a town hall meeting in New York sponsored by tea party supporters, Gingrich declined to characterize the race as a direct contest between himself and Romney. Any of the remaining GOP contenders could stage a comeback before the Iowa caucuses, he said. "I'm not going to say that any of my friends can't suddenly surprise us," Gingrich said.
Paul may be one of those candidates. He said Sunday his discussions of the war and the country's financial condition are resonating with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. He points to the Iowa poll numbers as a measure of his success and says he also stands to gain from Cain dropping out of the race, and his organization is paying attention to where Cain's supporters might go.
"There are a lot of people who call themselves Tea Party people that did like the independent mindedness of Herman Cain. So I'm optimistic that we'll pick up some votes from there," he said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union".
But once high-flying contenders such as Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota have not managed to bounce back so far, despite weeks of trying.
Bachmann said Sunday she was the "consistent conservative" in the race and her campaign would benefit most from Cain's departure.
"A lot of Herman Cain supporters have been calling our office and they've been coming over to our side," she said, also on CNN. "They saw Herman Cain as an outsider and I think they see that my voice would be the one that would be most reflective of his."
Cain's once-prospering campaign was undone by numerous allegations of sexual wrongdoing.
Gingrich, twice divorced and now married to a woman with whom he had an extramarital affair, has been the most obvious beneficiary of Cain's precipitous slide.
But Perry, Bachmann and possibly others are likely to make a play for Cain's anti-establishment tea party backing. Time is running short for them to establish themselves as the top alternative to Romney, who has long been viewed with suspicion by many conservatives.
NEW YORK -- Miguel Cotto battered a one-eyed Antonio Margarito over nine lopsided rounds then won a TKO decision amid confusion in the corner before they came out for the 10th on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Cotto (37-2-0) earned a punishing measure of payback for his loss to Margarito three years ago. With the New York crowd going wild for the Puerto Rican Cotto, he was never seriously threatened and retained his 154-pound title, shuttering Maragarito's right eye to cause the stoppage.
Margarito beat Cotto in July 2008, only to later have his career and reputation tarnished when he used illegal hand wraps before a loss to Shane Mosley. Margarito didn't box again for more than a year.
He needed surgery to repair a fractured orbital bone following a loss to Manny Pacquiao last year and considered retirement. The New York State Athletic Commission didn't license Margarito until Nov. 22 after ordering another examination of his eye. Cotto took quick aim on the eye and it was swollen shut in the seventh round.
Cotto believed Margarito also used illegal hand wraps in their first fight and claimed he had the photos to prove it.
Cotto stared down Margarito in his corner after the bout was stopped.
"Just to look at him and taste my victory on him," Cotto said. "He means nothing to me. I'm here with all my crowd and all my people. He means nothing to me."
The Tijuana Tornado stopped Cotto in the 11th round in Las Vegas in their first meeting. Cotto said he long resisted a rematch because he didn't want money going to an opponent who didn't fight fair.
Cotto took any issues of legality out of this one from the opening round. The sellout crowd at MSG honked horns, waved the Puerto Rico flag and absolutely went wild for all things Cotto ? starting with his entrance to the opening strains of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army."
Nothing could hold Cotto back.
Margarito laughed, smiled and even taunted Cotto after suffering several big blows. His demeanor didn't help him at the end of the seventh round, when he sat on his corner stool, his right eye shut. The crowd gasped then roared as the squeamish scene flashed on the big screen.
With one eye, Margarito gamely fought on, hoping for that one brutal blow that could change the fight. Half blind, he never had a chance. Ring doctor Anthony Curreri stopped the fight because of the eye even though 3 seconds ticked off in the 10th round. The fighters never met in the center of the ring.
"It came to the point there was no vision at all from the eye," Curreri said. "I think it would have been dangerous for him to go out there without any visual field. He did go quite a bit with the eye impaired."
Referee Steve Smoger did not know what the doctor wanted, causing confusion at the end.
Margarito insisted he could continue, though he was way behind on the scorecards.
"I told them how many numbers I had up," he said. "I knew from now on they were out to protect him because I was building (momentum)."
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 03: Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico kisses his wife Melissa after defeating Antonio Margarito of Mexico by TKO in the tenth round during the WBA World Junior Middleweight Title fight.
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 03: Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico kisses his wife Melissa after defeating Antonio Margarito of Mexico by TKO in the tenth round during the WBA World Junior Middleweight Title fight.
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NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 03: Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico kisses his wife Melissa after defeating Antonio Margarito of Mexico by TKO in the tenth round during the WBA World Junior Middleweight Title fight.
AUSTIN, Tex (Reuters) ? Up to 12 inches of snow was expected to fall in parts of Colorado and New Mexico on Saturday as a storm system moved through the central U.S., bringing what forecasters said would be the first significant snow of the season to the region.
From New Mexico to the Great Lakes, the storm that brought damaging winds to Western states and several inches of snow to the Rockies on Friday is set to drop four to seven inches of snow in other states in the region, including Nebraska and Kansas, according to forecasters.
Sioux City, Iowa was expecting up to five inches of snow by the end of the day, and police were already reporting more than a dozen car crashes on Saturday afternoon due to the slick roads.
In Omaha, Neb., the first significant snowfall of the season coincided with Saturday's college soccer playoff game featuring the hometown Creighton University and a team from a place where it snows about once every two decades or so: the University of South Florida in Tampa.
The NCAA provided yellow balls for the elite eight matchup but the afternoon game was postponed until noon Sunday to give crews time to clear the field.
The storm was expected to leave as much as 6 inches of snow in eastern Nebraska by Sunday morning.
About four inches of snow on the ground in Pueblo, Colorado on Saturday afternoon did not deter business at Shamrock Brewing Company, where patrons were enjoying a beer in spite of the winter weather, said bartender Heather Ramsey.
"There's almost a rush in business during the snowy days," she said. "It's almost like people want to get out. They don't want to get too far, but they don't stay home."
Residents of the high country in Arizona were on the lookout for snow later Saturday as well, with forecasters predicting up to eight inches in Flagstaff by Saturday night.
The same system was bringing rain to parts of north Texas, as well as parts of Michigan and Iowa.
Temperatures below freezing was causing dangerous driving conditions in Michigan, where rain was freezing on roads, according to Accuweather.com.
The northern Great Lakes can expect snow accumulation on Saturday night, forecasters said.
Travel on several interstate highways is expected to be affected by the wintry mix of snow, sleet and rain, according to Accuweather.com forecasters, including I-25, I-29, I-35, I-39, I-40, I-70, I-80, I-90 and I-94.
The National Weather Service issued an advisory on Saturday warning of potential heavy rain in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas on Saturday night in advance of a cold front expected to hit the area late Saturday or early Sunday.
A second winter storm is expected to develop on Sunday evening in New Mexico, across Texas and into Oklahoma, bringing temperatures down to the 20s for some areas and sparking the potential for snow, sleet or ice.
Also starting Sunday, forecasters will be watching for heavy rains to drench an already saturated area from Arkansas to the Ohio Valley, raising the potential for floods in that area next week, according to Accuweather.com.
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