Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[tibber]

Just woke up to a call from the school saying school is canceled today due to the weather. No snow here but it must have been intense out in Inscription House and Kaibeto. Just got on ADOT, looks like roads are treacherous all around the rez. They list I-17 as impassable between Verde Valley and Flag. I-40 is impassable at Kingman, and apparently almost unusable from there to Winslow. SR87 at Winslow is impassible. 260 impassible at Payson. 93 impassible at Kingman. WOW!

WOW! indeed. We had a couple real windy/rainy storms with thunder roll through in N Phx. I did notice tree debris and damage as I drove to work but it was still dark so I couldn't see the full extent. However, there are LOTS of power outages.

Those of you in the cold country, try to stay warm as it sounds like your weather is still chilly, wet and treacherous.

[BobP]

The storm gave me the day off . two downed poles outside my office cut off electricity to our building . Tommorow will be a long day...I'll probably even have to work hard

[azbackpackr]

Do they have all those roads closed right now, PageRob?

We have no school today, either. At first they were going to have a delayed start, but then they called me to say it is cancelled.

However, that being said, despite all the lovely snow in Flag, we have only about 3 inches here in our valley, which is being blown away by the wind. I expect there is a lot more up in Alpine and Greer. I can't get the Sunrise webcam to work for me, but their website says 24-30" has fallen. Maybe I should try to drive up and go cross country skiing, but the wind is SO nasty, and the roads are so bad, it doesn't seem like a fun or wise thing to do.

According to the NOAA forecast and also by looking out the window, it appears the storm is over. The forecast calls for another storm to come in on Thursday night or Friday.

[chumley]

I actually gotta give the NWS a little credit here ... they (their computer models?) pretty much nailed this one, and had it right 5-6 days out too. Snowfall amounts, freezing line, rainfall amounts, timing, etc. All pretty much accurate. The only thing they missed is that the front that came through last night was a bit windier/more severe in the valley than they thought, and the whole thing cleared out a few hours earlier than the forecast, but otherwise it was an unusually well-forecasted event.

[Jim]

http://hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=115050
http://hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=115051
http://hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=115052

Just a light dusting in Flagstaff. Nothing to get all worked up about.

[joebartels]

Anybody know if Sedona turned into Disney winterland?

[PaleoRob]

Do they have all those roads closed right now, PageRob?

Looks like I-17 is open but slow. I-40 still closed at Winslow. Crash (probably weather related) between Kingman and Williams so only one lane is open. 260 is chains/4x4 only. Road conditions haven't been changed for the roads leading away to Kaibeto/Inscription House/Marble Canyon, so I assume that they remain the same. I have anecdotal evidence (via Facebook) that 98 is closed because plows can't reach Kaibeto. Don't know if that is true, but the ADOT website doesn't say anything about 98 being closed.

Jim, I'm surprised to see a reply from you - I thought you'd be climbing the mountain in the new snow!

I'd say NWS bombed for Page. They predicted inches of snow accumulation. I saw maybe a dozen flakes when I let the dogs out this morning. None stuck.

[azbackpackr]

Thanks for the update, Rob!!

Just a light dusting in Flagstaff. Nothing to get all worked up about.

Yeah!!! I love that one of the apartment building with all the covered-over cars! Everyone gets to sleep in because NAU is closed and what is more they have CANCELLED FINALS!!!! My daughter got her Beetle stuck on the side of the road last night, but a nice guy pulled her out.

Storm is OVER for sure, here in Eagar. Just cold, sunny and very windy. Brrrrr!!!! Nothing is melting! In my yard right now, temp (without wind chill factored in) is a balmy 30 degrees.

[Jim]

I'm going to try to go out tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be nearly clear tomorrow as the mountain is socked in with clouds today. They didn't get a lot of snow up there, so if I hike Humphrey I may end up on the trail instead of the Dutchman route. Hopefully, they get more snow and things improve by the 29th, or earlier.

[chumley]

Anybody know if Sedona turned into Disney winterland?

Ch. 15 webcam showing snow above town. Payson reported 6 inches, so the snow level dropped low enough overnight, but Prescott only got 2-3 inches. Munds Park reported 18-24, so its definitely plenty deep at the higher elevations.

[chumley]

the mountain is socked in with clouds today

Huh? It looks absolutely perfect to me!

[writelots]

Snow up high on the Catalinas this am... Makes me feel the need to hike! Instead, I sit here and type meaningless nonsense into the computer and draw funny little shapes. Sigh.

[Ckzona]

jhodlof. Looks like they got at least 2 feet?

http://www.arizonasnowbowl.com/resort/photo_gallery.php

[Jim]

jhodlof. Looks like they got at least 2 feet?

http://www.arizonasnowbowl.com/resort/photo_gallery.php

http://www.arizonasnowbowl.com/winter/snow_report.php


The blog talks about it being dry and powdery. We had a wetter snow. When I was up there last night it was remarkable how small the flakes were and dry they were, too. I plan to try to summit tomorrow. I don't know how it will go, but this could be a short period where it isn't summer conditions but it isn't really yet winter.

I checked the FS webcam. It's been stuck on a 912 am shot, so I never saw that it had cleared out until after I went outside today.

[azbackpackr]

Arizona's largest ski area also got over 2 feet: http://www.sunriseskipark.com/

[Dschur]

Anybody know if Sedona turned into Disney winterland?

Ch. 15 webcam showing snow above town. Payson reported 6 inches, so the snow level dropped low enough overnight, but Prescott only got 2-3 inches. Munds Park reported 18-24, so its definitely plenty deep at the higher elevations.

Don't know where they got that info but there was no snow in Payson anywhere... Had to go to Pine or out 260 to get to the snow....

We did have 1.25 inches of rain...

[Dschur]

Nordic center cam
http://www.flagstaffnordiccenter.com/webcam.php

[chumley]

Don't know where they got that info but there was no snow in Payson anywhere... Had to go to Pine or out 260 to get to the snow....
We did have 1.25 inches of rain...

NWS Storm Report
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/ ... GZ&pil=PNS

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
420 PM MST MON DEC 8 2009

...A MAJOR WINTER STORM BROUGHT BLIZZARD CONDITIONS AND SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS TO PORTIONS OF NORTHERN ARIZONA MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY
MORNING...

A MAJOR WINTER STORM BROUGHT HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS MONDAY
THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 18 INCHES TO OVER 2
FEET WERE COMMON OVER THE MOUNTAINS. WINDS ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE
COLD FRONT CAUSED WIDESPREAD BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF SNOW AS WELL AS
SOME PROPERTY AND TREE DAMAGE...AND POWER OUTAGES. A WINTER STORM
WATCH...A BLIZZARD WARNING...WINTER STORM WARNINGS...WINTER WEATHER
ADVISORIES AND WIND ADVISORIES WERE ISSUED FOR MOST OF NORTHERN
ARIZONA AS THIS STORM APPROACHED.

IN ADDITION...A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ESTIMATED TO BE CAPABLE
OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 80 MPH MOVED THROUGH NORTHERN
GILA COUNTY AROUND MIDNIGHT. TWO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS WERE
ISSUED FOR THIS LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS.

STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL AND WIND GUST REPORTS RECEIVED BY THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FLAGSTAFF INCLUDE:


NEW REPORTS

SELIGMAN 7 INCHES
KYKOTSMOVI 3 INCHES
KEAMS CANYON 10 INCHES
PINYON 18 INCHES

ALREADY REPORTED

ASH FORK 6 TO 15 INCHES
ARIZONA SNOWBOWL 21 TO 32 INCHES
BELLEMONT 19 INCHES
CANYON DE CHELLY 1 INCH
CLAY SPRINGS 12 TO 13 INCHES
DAVENPORT LAKE 16 INCHES
FLAGSTAFF AREA 20 TO 26 INCHES
FREDONIA 4 INCHES
FOREST LAKES 24 INCHES (ESTIMATED)
GRAND CANYON SOUTH RIM 18 INCHES
HEBER 8 INCHES
JACOB LAKE 24 INCHES (ESTIMATED)
KACHINA VILLAGE 17 INCHES
LUKACHUKAI 2 INCHES
MCNARY 16 INCHES
MUNDS PARK 18 TO 24 INCHES
PARKS 19 TO 24 INCHES
PAYSON 6 INCHES
PETRIFIED FOREST TRACE
PINETOP 10 INCHES
PRESCOTT 2-6 INCHES
SHOW LOW 6 INCHES
WILLIAMS 20 INCHES
WINDOW ROCK 6 INCHES

BELLEMONT 70 MPH
CAMP VERDE 66 MPH
CHINO VALLEY 78 MPH
CROWN KING 77 MPH
DONEY PARK 65 MPH
FLAGSTAFF 53 MPH
HEBER-OVERGAARD 70 MPH
MINGUS MOUNTAIN 70 MPH
PLEASANT VALLEY 57 MPH
PRESCOTT 74 MPH
PETRIFIED FOREST 67 MPH
SAINT JOHNS 56 MPH
SEDONA 54 MPH
SHOW LOW 54 MPH
TWO GUNS 69 MPH
WINDOW ROCK 56 MPH
WINSLOW 69 MPH

[Dschur]

That is really weird since we drove around last night all the way thru town and there wasn't an ounce of snow anywhere on the ground... And wasn't anything the night before... My aunt said she had 6 inches at her house in Prescott had to shovel it there. They may take the reading there at the airport...

[joebartels]

I actually gotta give the NWS a little credit here ...