Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[Jim]

So far I had a brief 10 minute change over to rain, but its back to snow. Unless a warm front moves north, the sun is starting to go down and we may end up with all snow here in Flagstaff as the cold front pushes through over night.

[PaleoRob]

Snow day tomorrow in Page for the schools. Outlying areas are getting dumped on. Raining decently here.

[Jim]

Schools been out all week here. It's back to rain, too. Hopefully it won't last long.

[chumley]

Seems like the forecasters seem confident that the snow level will continue to rise slowly up until the cold front passes sometime after midnight. There's just a ton of warm moist air being pulled in off the Baja coast that it doesn't look like the sun going down affect the freeze line. Even so, they're still predicting 1-3 feet of snow after the cold front, which is very unusual for Arizona winter storms. And the afternoon update also throws in a note about how next Tues-Thurs could be another significant storm!

[PaleoRob]

Snowing here, and starting to stick!

[azbackpackr]

I hear pretty much all the businesses in Flag are closed, and the I-40 as well?

We are having a lull here at the moment.

[azbackpackr]

Ok, jhodloff, I did post this elsewhere, but will also add to your epic thread:

Insane river data right now, and this is only the beginning?

Verde below Tangle Creek, 29,500
Tonto Creek above Gun Creek, 30,000
Agua Fria River, 21,000
Cherry Creek, 6,000
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/az/nwis/current/?type=flow

Gotta love it. Nothing excites me more than desert rivers going berserk!

[Jim]

We made the change over back to what is now very heavy wet snow.

[azbackpackr]

It is straight raining here. Washed away all the snow in Round Valley by now. Mtn. likely snowing, though--Greer forecast for a couple feet overnight, and Alpine is supposed to get 10-17. If your snow in Flag turns to rain it will be even more disastrous down Oak Creek. Weird set of storms...

I hope the power doesn't go out. I don't want to have to sleep on the floor in the living room in front of the fireplace.

[Jim]

Our change back to snow should be permanent with the cold front approaching. All this snow and rain gets me thinking, I wonder if there will be a repeat of February 2005 when Lower Lake Mary in Flagstaff was full or nearly full and Upper Lake Mary was rushing over it's dam into Lower Lake Mary? The Coconino NF still has a picture of the lakes on their website.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
833 PM MST THU JAN 21 2010

...UPDATED SNOWFALL...RAINFALL...AND PEAK WIND GUSTS...

SNOW LEVELS ARE RAPIDLY FALLING FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS NORTHERN
ARIZONA THIS EVENING...WE WILL BE UPDATING THE SNOW AMOUNTS BELOW AS
ADDITIONAL REPORTS BECOME AVAILABLE. SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL HAS BEEN
FALLING OVER MUCH OF YAVAPAI COUNTY THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING...BELOW ARE SOME CURRENT TOTALS (SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS
SINCE WEDNESDAY NIGHT)

SNOW TOTALS SINCE WED NIGHT...THESE WILL BE UPDATED AS NEW REPORTS
ARE RECEIVED...

FOREST LAKES 26 INCHES (445 PM MST)
FLAGSTAFF ARBORETUM 20.2 INCHES (500 PM MST)
KACHINA VILLAGE 18.6 INCHES (126 PM MST)
FLAGSTAFF AREA 15 TO 23 INCHES (300 PM MST)
12 M NORTH PARKS 16 INCHES (1230 PM MST)
WILLIAMS 12 INCHES (1100 AM MST)
GRAND CANYON N. RIM 12 INCHES (500 PM MST)
GROOM CREEK 11 INCHES (1240 PM MST)
MUNDS PARK 10 TO 12 INCHES (800 AM MST)
GRAND CANYON S. RIM 10 INCHES (500 PM MST)
ASHFORK 7 TO 9 INCHES (900 AM MST)
SAWMILLE 9 T0 10 INCHES (334 PM MST)
CLAY SPRINGS 8 INCHES (900 AM MST)
HEBER 8 INCHES (800 AM MST)
SUNRISE SKI AREA 7 INCHES (730 AM MST)
MOUNTAINAIRE 7 INCHES (605 AM MST)
SELIGMAN 6 INCHES (5 PM MST)
PRESCOTT 5 TO 7 INCHES (1000 AM MST)
TONTO VILLAGE 6 INCHES (540 AM MST)
PINE 5 INCHES (800 AM MST)
VERDE GLEN 5 INCHES (800 AM MST)
POLACCA 4 INCHES (800 AM MST)
CHINO VALLEY 3.5 INCHES (640 AM MST)
BLACK MESA 2 TO 3 INCHES (800 AM MST)
PAULDEN 2 TO 3 INCHES (930 AM MST)
PRESCOTT VALLEY 1 TO 2 INCHES (455 AM MST)
COTTONWOOD 1 TO 2 INCHES (930 AM MST)
TAYLOR 1 INCH (800 AM MST)
VILLAGE OF OAK CREEK 1 INCH (650 AM MST)
PAGE 1 INCH (541 PM MST)

SIGNIFICANT 24 HOUR RAINFALL TOTALS:

CROWN KING 6.50 INCHES (800 PM MST)
SUNSET POINT 6.57 INCHES (800 PM MST)
TOWERS MOUNTAIN 6.81 INCHES (800 PM MST)
HORSETHEIF BASIN 4.64 INCHES (700 PM MST)
CASTLE HOT SPRINGS 3.55 INCHES (500 PM MST)
PAYSON 3.49 INCHES (600 PM MST)
OAK CRK CANYON W FORK 3.74 INCHES (800 PM MST)
CORDES JUNCTION 3.62 INCHES (800 PM MST)
PRESCOTT AREA 3.2 TO 4.2 INCHES (800 PM MST)

SIGNIFICANT PEAK WIND GUSTS THIS EVENING:

MINGUS MOUNTAIN 68 MPH (701 PM MST)
PRESCOTT AIRPORT 67 MPH (655 PM MST)
STANTON 52 MPH (612 PM MST)
FLAGSTAFF AIRPORT 50 MPH (645 PM MST)
CHERRY 49 MPH (611 PM MST)


SNOW LEVELS WILL FALL AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT WITH MODERATE TO HEAVY
SNOW ACCUMULATIONS LATE TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING.

[hippiepunkpirate]

nsane river data right now, and this is only the beginning?

Verde below Tangle Creek, 29,500
Tonto Creek above Gun Creek, 30,000
Agua Fria River, 21,000
Cherry Creek, 6,000
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/az/nwis/current/?type=flow

Gotta love it. Nothing excites me more than desert rivers going berserk!

There's a flood warning out for Oak Creek too. Edit: Just looked at the other thread.

[azbackpackr]

6:00 a.m. Eagar, AZ. We have maybe 5 or so inches of snow, after it rained almost all night. And now it is trying to rain again and wash it all away.

LCR finally came up to over 4300 at Cameron, so that means Grand Falls is pumping, but it is not going to be very easy to get there! However, a lot of people live right next to that falls, so maybe they keep those nasty clay roads plowed. As for the LCR gauges near Springerville, I think they must be messed up.

We have a 2-hour delay this morning before I go in to drive the school bus. It is kind of fun for me because I have a town route, so it isn't too scary. The hard part is getting the bus ready for the run. It is hard to get enough snow off it to see well, and it is hard to do the pre-trip with it all coming down on you, and the pavement underfoot snow-covered ice.

[azbackpackr]

Oh, nope, now they've called to cancel school. I think I'll go cross country skiing in town again!

[SuperstitionGuy]

Oh, nope, now they've called to cancel school. I think I'll go cross country skiing in town again!

Enjoy the day off but please be careful. Post some pictures of the snow..... ;)

[chumley]

Sunrise and Snowbowl both closed today!

Snowbowl showing 57-82" storm total so far ...

[chumley]

Morning Data from NWS Flagstaff:

FLAGSTAFF AREA SNOW REPORTS...SINCE WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

BELLEMONT NWS OFFICE 27.0 INCHES (5 AM MST) (5 DAY TOTAL 41.8")
FLAGSTAFF AIRPORT 28 INCHES (5 AM MST) (5 DAY TOTAL 45.7")
FLAGSTAFF AREA SPOTTERS 25 TO 32 INCHES (5 AM MST)

STORM PRECIPITATION SINCE WEDNESDAY TOTALS:

WET BOTTOM CREEK NEAR CHILDS 10.03 INCHES (500 AM MST)
CHERRY CREEK NEAR GLOBE 8.06 INCHES (500 AM MST)
CROWN KING 7.63 INCHES (500 AM MST)
SUNSET POINT 7.61 INCHES (500 AM MST)
TONTO CREEK FISH HATCHERY 6.01 INCHES (500 AM MST)
OAK CREEK CANYON 5.62 INCHES (500 AM MST)
PLEASANT VALLEY 4.17 INCHES (500 AM MST)
SEDONA AIRPORT 4.11 INCHES (500 AM MST)
PAYSON 4.03 TO 5.3 INCHES (500 AM MST)
BAGDAD 3.50 INCHES (500 AM MST)
HAPPY JACK 3.59 TO 4.1 INCHES (500 AM MST)
IRON SPRINGS 3.31 INCHES (500 AM MST)
FLAGSTAFF AIRPORT 2.89 INCHES (500 AM MST)
MORMON LAKE 2.41 INCHES (500 AM MST)
SKULL VALLEY 2.35 INCHES (500 AM MST)
PRESCOTT 2.27 INCHES (500 AM MST)
WINDOW ROCK 1.98 INCHES (500 AM MST)
WINSLOW 1.34 INCHES (500 AM MST)

[tibber]

Rainfall since Wednesday at tibber's house in N Phx near the 101 and Cave Creek 2.875 INCHES but probably closer to 3 as my gauge is not in the best place.
1" on Wednesday afternoon
1" on Thursday afternoon
7/8 - 1" on Thursday evening

I thot it would be more but I think the wind blew the rain sideways so it couldn't get in my rain gauge.

[Jim]

The Flagstaff Climate Report at 155AM had Flagstaff at 4.52 inches of precipitation for the month. It looks like we will have over 5 inches for the month, and maybe 6 if the next storm isn't a dud. Even Winslow got in on the action, they've had 1.63 inches.

I put 5 pics into a set called "Piddly Snow".

[nonot]

official total was 0.81" at the airport yesterday, though most areas around the valley got 1.0-1.8 inches. In most other areas of the country this is known as a "rainy day".

[chumley]

Its not the .81 at the airport, its the 6-10" that fell upstream in the several basins that feed into/through the valley. There's not many places where 6-10" is just a "rainy day"!