[azbackpackr]

NWS reports 1" in Eagar, 1" in Window Rock, 4" in Concho, 5" in Alpine, 12.5" near McNary. Sunrise says 24-32".

This will be the first winter in years that I didn't go cross country skiing. I had a chance, in not very good conditions, in Flag, back in December. But I didn't go. Looks like it will be great.

HAZ hikers don't seem equipped to mount a snowshoe expedition to Mt. Baldy in winter. At least, I don't hear of this happening. I have some friends in Tucson, as well as a few in the White Mtns., who have done it. It's a long walk, because the roads are closed. The closest you can get in a car is the gate on 273, via the Sunrise turnoff. If you have a snowmobile you can go all over the place fairly quickly, and people do go ice fishing at Big Lake via snowmobile. You can ski there, of course, but it is a long way.

Maybe my snow camping days are over with. I can be cold in a 15 degree bag when it's 35 degrees out. The worst part of snow camping is having to get up to pee at 3 a.m.

[Nighthiker]

Mt. Peeley, Mt Ord and Four Peaks had quite the snow fall early afternoon, thinking about making a trip when off duty Tuesday.

[Jim_H]

Well, White Mountain area totals are not too impressive, and I have yet to see totals for the SE AZ ranges except for the Catalina Mountains with Ski the Lemmon reporting 12" of new snow (not enough to ski according to their website), but the deserts around Tucson, and the Rim to the Flagstaff area had very impressive totals. Almost 5 feet of new snow at Snowbowl makes this one of the biggest storms I can remember for them. Impressive. Pretty good water content, too. Snowslide Canyon Snotel only reports 25 new inches of settled snow depth, but over 3 inches of liquid equivalent. I certainly did not expect a big wet spring-ish storm to occur this year. It pretty much may have saved a lot of things from closing and having the fire danger many were afraid of occurring. Things ought to be greening up nicely next month in the Pusch Ridge area ( I think that is my favorite area in the state). Still, Flag didn't go below zero once the entire winter. First time I saw that.

[jeffmacewen]

As I stated in a trip report: "This weather blows...literally and figuratively!"

[Jim_H]

Hey, it's solar spring. The sun's vertical rays are now above the equator. What do you know.

[azbackpackr]

I tried to find out on the internet when the sun will be directly overhead here in Costa Rica. It looks as though it happens later on in the summer. There are several websites, but they weren't user friendly or didn't have much info about it. It happens in Hawaii, also, at least, on the Big Island, which is south of the tropic of Cancer. Costa Rica, on the other hand, is only 10 degrees north of the equator.

[Jim_H]

I have a program and plugged in 10 degrees north, which gave me April 15 and August 26 as days with the suns rays near 90 at solar noon. The sun is moving relative to the earth at that time of year, so unlike at the tropics, you have to catch the moment or you miss it.

[Jim_H]

Hey, Snowbowl Closed. Didn't even see it coming. I think Sunday the 1st was their closing day. Amazing, given that the biggest storm of the season was only 2 weeks ago. Guess they got lucky with that one. Seems about a week early for them, but the snow was pretty much all gone in town only 4 days after the big storm, so it doesn't last long in Spring. Still, I heard the big dump came right at the beginning of the ASU Spring Break, so Snowbowl probably cashed in good. It IS Spring!

[big_load]

This was the 4th warmest winter in NJ history, with the least snowfall in my 25 years here. Our freak October snowstorm (when the trees still had green leaves on them) was 4-6 times the whole rest of the winter combined. I'm not complaining, though. I really don't need to shovel any more snow or drive in it.

[Jim_H]

This was the 4th warmest winter in NJ history, with the least snowfall in my 25 years here. Our freak October snowstorm (when the trees still had green leaves on them) was 4-6 times the whole rest of the winter combined. I'm not complaining, though. I really don't need to shovel any more snow or drive in it.

Funny you say that, as out where I am, the short-term locals say this was one of the warmest winters they remember, but I still remember it as a cold winter. I mean, it froze just about every night and we had plenty of snow for the location. It came early, which made me sick of it early, and even when the days moderated a lot in later Winter, it was still cold at night. Mild, cold, whatever, I'm just glad to see winter gone.

[joe bartels]

This was the 4th warmest winter in NJ history

while reading on the natural gas surplus I stumbled upon this which is speaking of the nation in general

this past winter was the fourth warmest in the last 117 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was the warmest March since 1950.

hopefully that's not a goocher being this is page 117

[big_load]

That's weird.. By the way, we're paying the price with a lot of brush fires. The ground is very dry (and covered last year's dry oak leaves) and there's been a lot of dry wind.

[Jim_H]

If it wasn't meant to burn, it wouldn't. NJ was basically another example of fire maintained forests, from the NW to the SE part of the state.

[azbackpackr]

That's interesting, I didn't know that about the Northeast.

I have asked Ticos why their bosques aren't burning, since they have six months of very dry weather, and especially along the coast and in the cattle country the forests are super dry. They do have fires, but not huge ones. They say it is due to the humidity.

Incidentally, the rainy season has started early this year, with two real nice gully-washers this past week here in Puntarenas. This is very good for us living here, because now it is not as hot as it was. A couple of weeks ago it felt like I was living in Phoenix with no A/C! The storms were very reminiscent of Arizona monsoons. It will be interesting, when I go somewhere on the weekend, to see what the countryside looks like when it's greened-up, because up to now it has been kind of brown.

[chumley]

That's interesting, I didn't know that about the Northeast.

x2

In all my years growing up there and still having family there, I can't recall even a single noteworthy fire having occurred during even the driest, drought summers.

[chumley]

Fire season needs this to be a good one:

A STRONG AND UNSEASONABLY COLD LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL BEGIN TO MOVE INTO NORTHERN AZ FRIDAY. MODELS ARE COMING TO A CLOSER CONSENSUS FAVORING THE HEAVIEST PRECIPITATION FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING...BUT DETAILS OF TIMING AND PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS ARE STILL FAIRLY UNCERTAIN. NEVERTHELESS...EXPECT LIKELY PRECIPITATION...POTENTIALLY SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW AT THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS...AND UNSEASONABLY LOW SNOW LEVELS. THE SYSTEM WILL BE SLOW TO MOVE OUT OF THE SOUTHWEST...LINGERING OVER NORTHERN AZ THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

[azbackpackr]

Fingers crossed! In Eagar, we don't want Wallow Fire #2 in June. While I believe it is true that in the long run fire is good for the land, that fire was not very good, at least not in the short run. The amount of soil erosion has been considerable, for example. While it may have covered over 500,000 acres, there is still a lot that could burn. Check out JuanJaimeiii's recent triplogs, at least 4 triplogs into that area within the past couple of weeks. Lots and lots of intact forest remaining within the burn area.

[big_load]

That's interesting, I didn't know that about the Northeast.

x2

In all my years growing up there and still having family there, I can't recall even a single noteworthy fire having occurred during even the driest, drought summers.

Big fires are rare, but JimH is right that it's still very much a fire-adapted ecosystem, especially the southern reaches of NJ popularly known as the Pine Barrens. Fires there don't get much publicity, except when they impinge on developed areas. They also tend to not to cover huge areas in one burn. There are also a lot of brush fires in the Meadowlands, but these are also usually small, fast, and without much impact on human activities. It's also even true to a much lesser degree of the Northwest corner, where I live. There have been a couple fairly big fires along the Appalachian Trail and other Highlands areas in recent years.

What's a little unusual is the time of year. Fire danger in the Spring isn't unheard of, but it's not exactly typical, either. Normally the last of the winter snow would be melting off, and this would be mud season from that alone, if not also from the Spring rains. Still, dry years do happen and this was one of them.

[Jim_H]

White oak is a fire maintained species, without it, it shifts to beech-maple-birch, or stand replacing yellow popular-red oak. Pitch pine is fire maintained, as is jack pine and virginia pine. The pitcher plant bogs require fire to maintain the sunny conditions. Lots of area in NJ has shifted to red maple swamps where once there was pitch pine or atlantic white cedar. Also, sunny bogs are converting to forest, though a lot of that has been lot to berriculture.

Another storm?! Pbbbbbbtttttt!!! Great for California, but I don't want any dust or snow. Rain is OK.

[chumley]

Speak of the devil...
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/04/09/ ... tate-area/

Dry Air, Strong Winds Fuel Brush Fires In Southern N.J., Staten Island & Long Island
Gusts Of Up To 60 MPH Fanning The Flames; Hundreds Of Firefighters Deployed...