HikeArizona.COM

The endless chatter of weather.

That's super! We didn't really want to hog ALL the rain up here in the White Mtns., although I am sure it seems like that to most people, since this has been a VERY wet summer up here.

You guys can have it. I'm glad it has dried up out here, we had a big rain series over the weekend, and I hope we move into fall.

chumley wrote: How is it that the models couldn't see that the ingredients were in place to produce this? :SB:

Models aren't supposed to be smart, they're just supposed to stand there and look pretty.

Outdoor Lover wrote:I'll bet Camp Creek Falls is gushing today....Wow! Anybody up for a quick, easy, albeit wet, Hike today????

I already did one from my house to my car this morning. It was pouring BUCKETS out here in AJ! We got 1.3 inches and there's a lot of flooding (including the Arizona Room and my office)

Trish

I'm cancelling yard sale #4 (or is it #5?) today due to thick cloud cover and weather forecast. Will have it next Sat, I hope. So, the wet air mass has moved over to this area, and it did rain a bit last night but so far it's just very cloudy this morning.

So, we're headed into another El Nino. Numerous NWS offices have posted stuff talking about it, but it's still early and like the 2006-2007 El Nino, it could be a dud and do nothing, or it could be like the 2009-2010 one, and perhaps even like the 2004-2005 El Nino. Probably not, in fact, I hope for January 2010 conditions in January 2013, as a long shot. Am I the only one excited about it? I'm pretty much just excited about doing Humphrey (if around and able) in January or February, in deep snow, but I know SE AZ and SW NM would appreciate a wetter winter after the last 2 dry ones.

Too soon? I guess with most populated places in the state still mired in monsoon season flow and storms, having some NE air and dry fall weather is turning my thoughts to aspen in CO, pleasant cool dry weather up here, and the first snows in the Peaks in a few months.

I am excited with the prospect of a wet winter in the desert. Our lack of winter storms was thoroughly disappointing last year.

Maybe the universe wanted to help the plants and gardens grow by bringing life giving rains to the dry and dusty desert. Im thankful for the rain.

Me, I just wanna run the upper Salt River! ;) You have to have a LOT of snow on Mt. Baldy to have a good spring season on the upper Salt. The San Francisco River, the Verde, etc.--all are a lot better in spring if there is some snow to melt!

Well, you might get your wish. Odds are, if I get my wish for > 6 feet of snow on the west face of the Peaks at 10,500', you'll get yours for a big spring melt.

Had a lot of rain up here the last few days. Cool and fall like today. I hope the air dries and the temps warm. Great looking forecast for Sunday in CO, which I hope holds. So long monsoon!

I want rain.

Had snow up at Independence Pass, but that's a different state and matter all together. I'd like a couple of months of this great weather.

Jim, it's not just the weather. It's the whole feeling of fall on the Colorado Plateau. Yesterday morning while driving to Flag I stopped at the rest area on I-40 between Winslow and Flag. It was balmy warm, almost hot, but still I knew with my whole being that summer is over. The slant of the light, the colors in the grasses, the shadows in the redrock formations: all evoke memories of the wonderful times I have spent backpacking Grand Canyon and other areas of the Plateau country in the fall. It's wonderful. This slant of light also evokes other feelings, a sort of nostalgia, a sweet melancholy.

Over there at home in Eagar, and here in Flag, it is also beautiful, but this high elevation also means it is getting kind of frosty at night. This is also the time of year when, if I am home, I start dreaming of lower elevations: the desert or the Canyon. Floating the Canyon, as I will be over the next month, camping on the beaches, we'll be able to wear shorts and sandals in the evenings. The mornings will be cool but not cold. It's truly the best time of year there, at least for me.

Fall is nice, but it's the end of the year, and the lower light levels are depressing as the season wears on. Not until February does it start to improve. March, really. I'm not even 2 degrees north of where I was last year, but I have felt like it is a few weeks ahead of the actual date for almost a month. Really, living above 4500' to 5000', I look forward to warm, dry and sunny weather, with relatively little wind: late September and most of October. The sort of weather folks in the low desert take for granted, and enjoy for what seems like more than half the year, and leads them to say, "I want rain", when we just had a pretty good late summer system and won't be in need of any for some time ;) . I hope my Tucson trip in 3 weeks goes as I want, and I might travel to the Abajos, or possibly the La Sals, for a hike and over night trip, but mostly, I just want to enjoy nice weather around where I live.

Have fun on the river. :FG:

Jim_H wrote:Had snow up at Independence Pass, but that's a different state and matter all together. I'd like a couple of months of this great weather.

I hightailed it out of the cirque at Horn Lakes when the rain came. It left a little snow on some other areas I visited. It looked like a big storm on the weather map, but didn't look like AZ was getting anything.

Summer is (soon to be) over. Literally, in about 50 minutes, the sun's perpendicular rays will cross from our good, honest, wholesome, and pure, northern hemisphere, to the evil, dark led, sadistic, southern hemisphere. I still prefer summer, and love the sun, but with this: :FG: it's fun to say it's fall.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sgx/briefing/EN ... layer.html

The San Diego NWS office is now calling for a weak El Nino, nothing too impressive, with equal chances for normal precipitation in southern California, and northern Arizona, but good chances for above normal precipitation for the southern half of Arizona, New Mexico and to the east out towards the nether regions, and very good chances for above normal precipitation for extreme south east AZ and extreme southern New Mexico. So, maybe the Peaks will not get a huge dump as they did in 2010, or maybe they will, who knows? However, Sierra Blanca might get a healthy dumping or two of snow, and maybe the Sky Islands will get some healthy winter precipitation? Guess we'll find out in 5 months.

Snow in the forecast for the peaks on Thursday night.

I haven't seen photos of the peaks yet, they appear to still be socked in, but since there's snow on the ground at the FNC (8,000 ft) you can be sure the entire peaks are covered!
http://www.flagstaffnordiccenter.com/webcam.php