Forecasters say parts of the drought-stricken Southwest can expect some relief from off-and-on wet weather the rest of this week and into next, with rain expected in lower elevations and snow in higher terrain.

The storm that passed across the region earlier this week “is just the first in a series of systems that will continue to deliver much-needed precipitation over the next several days,” AccuWeather said Wednesday.

The private forecasting service said the next round of rain moving through the Southwest through Thursday is likely to be heavier than the general amounts of a quarter of an inch that many areas got Tuesday.

National Weather Service forecasters in Flagstaff in northern Arizona said a series of stronger and colder storms will produce widespread rain and snow this weekend and early next week.

The weather service said light showers over New Mexico’s southwestern mountains and south-central mountains would be followed by increased precipitation Thursday and again this weekend and early next week.

The weather service said mountains near Las Vegas, New Mexico, received over a foot of snow late Tuesday and early Wednesday, and Prescott National Forest officials reported that rain Tuesday in north-central Arizona helped contain a wildfire.