Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[Alston_Neal]

[azbackpackr]

I ended up wearing sneakers. Had to walk a ways to get to the dome. Very slippery conditions today.

It's COLD here today! Brrrr!

[azbackpackr]

WAY off topic:

[johnlp]

Congrats! Nice accomplishment.

[azbackpackr]

Thanks!

[BEEBEE]

Congrats

[Alston_Neal]

Hats off to you......

[BEEBEE]

Just saw a report on Snowbowl on the weather channel and they are also showing footage of Flag looks really nice

[big_load]

@azbackpackr
Congratulations! I thought that statue was gone because I couldn't find it a few weeks ago. There are too many new buildings on campus for my obsolete mental map.

[azbackpackr]

@azbackpackr
Congratulations! I thought that statue was gone because I couldn't find it a few weeks ago. There are too many new buildings on campus for my obsolete mental map.

Thank You! The lumberjack is next to the dome, on the east side of it.

[Jim]

8 new posts and not a single one about the storm in southern AZ that is forecast to cause a blizzard in NM. Oh, and snowbowl picked up a few more inches. Lousy snow up here in CO, no luck for my hoped summit. Not sure about the area in winter from that trailhead, as it is a lot of boring approach. Maybe a overnight pack trip to camp above 12,000' in a baisn in winter, though. Maybe not if I find another one to go to.

[autumnstars]

Snow has an odd way of making even the most boring hike more interesting, so there is hope...

Meanwhile, this most recent storm gave us rain in the valley for a good part of the morning and snow on the Spring Mountains - should be shaping up for some good snow hiking/snowshoeing.

[JimmyLyding]

Congratulations! I have many fond memories of visiting NAU. I love the Walkup Skydome. NAU is a beautiful place and a pretty good school that too often gets overlooked.
@autumnstars: Las Vegas is so scenic after it snows. Driving in from Boulder City or even flying in is quite a sight to see.

[Jim]

The current/ recent storm was pretty generous to SE AZ, it seems. Ski the Lemmon is reporting a 42" base. Now, I do not know the elevation for that, but that is still 10 inches more than Snowbowl's 10,800' snow depth of 32", and way more than the 18" base they report at 9,500'. This is excellent for the Catalinas and SE AZ, given how bad last winter was. Somehow, the rest of the west is dry, but I guess it will turn at some point. Then, AZ will be dry and return to drought conditions. The rest of the lower elevation desert areas in the southern to SE part of the state appear to have picked up some decent rain amounts, too.

[chumley]

They reported 30" last week, and had a previous base of 14". Hard to believe it has only "settled" 2", but since when do ski areas report facts? I don't know where they do their measurements, but the top isn't much more than a few feet over 9,000, and the parking lot is at 8,300, so there probably isn't a significant difference like you can find at Snowbowl. Nonetheless, the highest point at Lemmon is lower than the lowest point at Snowbowl, and combined with about 3° of latitude it's probably not too common to see more base at Lemmon.

[imike]

started sleeting and snowing on me on my morning hike today, around the 5,000'+ level... was a white out all the time above that level... and now, it is a nice snowfall down in town (4400') and the temps are dropping towards the freezing mark. Too bad, the canyons had fully cleared of snow with the rain last week... they make for the best winter time hikes, but snow accumulation make them a bit too dangerous. Ideally, the snow will move up the hill a bit and not create a problem.

[chumley]

Was just revisiting some old photosets and came across this one.
http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=119750
Let's hope it looks like that again in a month or two.

[Jim]

That would be nice, however, even with storm frequencies and SB opening last week, it probably won't happen. What with the La Nina and everything. It's actually surprising how dry it has been in the traditionally wet areas this time of year, and how wet it has been in the areas that were dry last year. Not sure how honest the Mt Lemmon ski area reports are, but them being open is not bad. They report 6 inches of new snow, and a 42 inch base. My guess is that is the settled amount, but you never know. The storm from last week was really wet down low, so it probably dropped a lot of wet snow above 8,000', and that should settle less than the powder that SB received. In general, the lower the snow, the wetter, too.

[azbackpackr]

Very icy driving conditions this morning in the Forest Lakes/Chris Creek area.

[Nighthiker]

Thanks for the info, not much time spent in driving those conditions. Last time in those conditions I noted the parking lot at the Woods Canyon was plowed, drove in and found my jeep was a much better ice skater than me. No damage, slightly scared and I prefer sand over snow and ice.