@RedRoxx44 Water rights are so bizarre to me. This is a town that is literally situated on the banks of a flowing river.

101 days into 2026, PHX has recorded just 10 days with below normal high temperatures (add 3 days at exactly the normal). The remaining 88 days have all been above normal.* It looks promising for us to add a few more this week where we will have a below-normal high for the first time in over five we...

People opposed to this action seem to have coalesced into a unified front and published a good bit of information with calls to action.

https://saveusfs.org/

Another sneak-attack of rainfall across the Mogollon Rim yesterday, with widespread 1/2" observations. More rain in the forecast this weekend, and the possibility of a series of follow up systems over the next couple of weeks are all good signs for April in Arizona.

@PatrickL :lol: I'm not sure that a reorganization isn't warranted. I don't know a lot of people who defend the effectiveness and efficiency of the forest service without caveat. However, my lived experience leads me to question whether this might perhaps be an initiative that has been undertaken w...

I personally wonder how the change will affect recreation management or policies. Will it make the process of procuring funding for trail construction and maintenance different — easier or more difficult? Will there be changes to the district office structure? Increases or decreases in field personn...

This topic could be posted under fire, politics, hiking, travel, and about 12 other categories. It's really quite all-encompassing as far as how the US Forest Service is organized and managed and the effect on the public that uses it. But somehow there hasn't been a lot of reporting on it so far. I ...

The HAZ map of radar-estimated rainfall shows some decent results in the 0.5"+ range across the Mogollon Rim and some good storms southeast of Tucson earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, NWS PHX posted the March recap and it's off the charts.

Adding some maps from the 2025 Billy Fire in the Sierra Ancha for future reference.

This is the first winter that Arizona's water managers have utilized new LiDAR mapping technology, combined with satellite and ground-based observations to more accurately account for mountain snowpack and forecast runoff. Three airborne snow surveys conducted this winter tracked how much water was ...

Grand Canyon National Park Announces 2026 North Rim Summer Season Access Grand Canyon National Park will welcome visitors back to the North Rim for the 2026 summer season beginning at 6 a.m. on Friday, May 15, 2026. • All paved roadways within the park will reopen, including Highway 67, Cape Royal,...

@RedRoxx44
The chances in Arizona look underwhelming (but in April, every drop counts toward fire prevention). Even better, it looks like temps might drop from 25 degrees above normal to only 10 degrees above normal!

@The_Eagle
Given the ambient temperature, I wouldn't rule out spontaneous combustion.

@The_Eagle if only there was a way to weigh the emotional toll of the steps we take alongside certain hiking partners.

In the past two days, over 30 cities across the west experienced the warmest March temperatures on record (periods of record vary by site). Forecasts indicate upwards of 77 cities will break high-temperature records today, 100+ cities tomorrow, and 95+ on Saturday. And it's not just daytime heat. Ab...

January 1972 And a year earlier, the coldest temperature recorded in this state, -40 (both F and C), occurred at Hawley Lake in the White Mountains. With our highest temp of 128F, the range of extremes in Arizona is 168 degrees ... not even in the top 10 of US states, led by Montana with a 187 degr...

@LindaAnn I can deal with a couple of hours over 100 when it's still in the 60s when I get up. It's when overnights don't drop under 90 that it gets intolerable pretty fast. I think the reverse is true in the cold too. A few minus 20s overnight are acceptable, but when the sunny daytimes are still ...

Meanwhile in our alphabetical neighbor state (an obviously critically relevant metric :-k ) the polar opposite of our heat dome is continuing to deliver an unusually cold winter. Fairbanks has reached 32 only once since October, and this week much of the state is experiencing lows in the 20 to 40 be...

Mistakes happen, but I'm starting to think that the channel 12 graphics department might not know how to make a graph.

In other Arizona wildlife news, I'll have to add this ferret to my sighting wish list. Wildlife managers release endangered black-footed ferrets in northern Arizona The Arizona Game and Fish Department released 19 endangered black-footed ferrets at three sites in northern Arizona last week. Biologis...