HikeArizona.COM

The endless chatter of weather.

http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/p168i12.gif <----link for source of: Not sure if the present 6 inches of liquid equivalent will fall as snow in the San Jaun Mountains, but wow! if it does, I'd say skip Breck and head to Wolf Creek, Purgatory, or Silverton. Snowbowl picked up a lot this past week, maybe they will have a banner pack for early March and Spring Break. A few more feet would really help backcountry travel and Humphrey and/or Main Cirque enthusiasts! The sun is getting stronger and the winds can pick up, but early March holds promise for winter conditions. Now, I still have mixed feelings on living in winter, but a decent snowpack would be great.

Decent rain potential for the desert, even down to Tucson.

Should be an interesting 4-5 days coming up!

Looks like snow levels are trending fairly high, especially as you move farther east and south. The eastern rim, Mazzies, and Ancha may not see snow at all before late Sunday or Monday. But Snowbowl may end up with over 3-feet.

The forecast rain totals in central AZ look impressive in some places. 2"-4" across favored terrain.

Southern Colorado and northern New Mexico may see snow totals in the 4, 5, or 6 FOOT range. Telluride, Wolf Creek, Crested Butte, Taos, etc ... lovin it!

Looks like southeastern Arizona is going to miss the bulk of this one.

I say bring it! :bigth:

It may miss the bulk, but extreme SE AZ actually had some last week, with Tucson recording 29/100ths in the middle of last week, and then there have been a few of those weird northern Mexico storms in the same area earlier this winter. Besides, that area seems to be the first place to receive, and gets some of the most intense monsoon moisture and storms. The White Mountains don't seem to be getting it like the Peaks or western Rim, but they'll get something.

If this isn't off topic; what weather app do you all use? I prefer one that has good radar maps. The Weather Underground looks pretty good.

The Yahoo one was rated the highest for free apps awhile ago.

Grand Canyon: ... ....

Here's a photo Jamie took somewhere near the top of Grandview Trail just this morning... And still the snow falls.

My buddies at the Canyon say currently a foot of snow and counting ... I am jealous - finally a good snowstorm AFTER I leave!
Just rain here ... my very scientific observation on the way home from work - the Verde River is flooding pretty good.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowap ... art.action

Arizona and Colorado continue to get rain and snow, but California is apparently not being smiled upon by the gods, as they have had no real improvement from the recent storm in the Sierra. According to the graph, the snow pack is now at historic record lows. However, the winter overall may have been wetter than it appears as much of what has fallen this winter was rain.

Snowbowl, Purgatory, Wolf Creek, Taos, and Santa Fe ski resorts all report impressive 1 week totals, and should receive more as the storm progresses. I know that is a pretty unscientific way to observe, but it is nice to see big snows. March might end up being the wettest, and snowiest month for the Peaks and Flagstaff. Actually, Flag has had a wet winter, it is just that much like the Sierra, much of what fell was rain, until now.

It's interesting to compare the QPF map Jim posted last Wednesday with the radar estimated rainfall totals now available.

http://www.hikearizona.com/dex2/downloa ... &mode=view
While the storm didn't seem to happen as forecast, it really isn't that far off.

The Phoenix area ended up a little dryer than expected, and it was much wetter than expected in western Arizona, the North Rim and southern Utah. Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado look to have been pretty close to exactly what was forecast.

In AZ, some of the lower elevations were hit with more rain than snow but the overall liquid totals are pretty impressive in many areas.

The SF Peaks are now holding a 5-6 foot base. Should be great for snowshoeing and skiing up there!

Oak Creek got over 5" of rain, Flagstaff over 4", Pine over 3". Lots of 2-3" totals in the higher elevations. Some of that rain, some measured as liquid in snowfall. All-in-all, a pretty healthy storm for Feb/March.

I think the Rock Creek Trail got about 5 inches on Saturday alone. :wist:

chumley wrote:I think the Rock Creek Trail got about 5 inches on Saturday alone.

Please leave it to the professionals in the future.....

Got a funny email from Red Rock State Park today - showed some photos of the creek raging, said it was running at 7000cfs, then went on to say that they lost two bridges, and "pieces of those bridges are probably in Phoenix by now, so if you see them, please pick them up for us". LOL

The Flagstaff office is reporting that the winter is at or above normal for precipitation for most areas.

It's just most of has been in the form of rain rather than snow.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/media/fgz/FXC/f ... e_2015.png

A trough to the west, a low in olde Mexico moving toward the Pass-o, and stuff: some rain potential for eastern Arizona and SW New Mexico. Models have an impressive 2.5 inches of potential storm total over the next few days, in the upper elevations of the Gila. We'll see. The White mountains could get some rain though, which would be good.

2015 Tibber's house:

Well I think that was much more rain than we expected. I got almost an inch at my house (101 and Cave Creek) area on Mar 18-19. I think all of the plants and trees were going "awhhhhhhhhh"
May 3 - 3/8ths
May 15/16 - 1 1/4

The interior of the Superstitions have been getting a bunch of rain for the past 3 hours or so. Its so black out there that it looks like monsoon season, lots of thunder too.

We got six inches of snow in Jersey today. People are talking as if it's the last of the season, but there's still a month of possible snow.

Woke up to a dusting of snow yesterday, but went to the zoo w/Micah in a t shirt. snowing heavily today.

With desert temps heading for the upper 90s this weekend it's a good time to remember that the earliest 100F in PHX was 3/26 (yesterday) back in 1988.

Yay. </sarcasm>

Weather for 500 Alex.....

Yup, it's hot, but it's the desert, we're under high pressure, and it's to be expected as the urban areas get larger. 97 forecast for my area, tomorrow, and the first 90 degree day is, on average, not for almost 2 weeks. However, that is for the airport area, and the forecast is cooler down there.

Personally, I am enjoying this warm weather. Severe drought, water shortages, extreme heat? Eh, I can hike in 75 at 7,000'. And, really, isn't my comfort and happiness what weather is really all about?