HikeArizona.COM

The endless chatter of weather.

The GC is beautiful with snow, but there can be too much of a good thing.

@nikorock28
As you know, I'm not a fan of snow. However, when it arrives in great quantities it becomes more interesting--fun for cross country skiing and photography. As Cactuscat said, I'm a bit jealous. I checked the Canyon Dave Tours schedule and it shows my boss has booked out (cancelled) tours through Thursday. (I'm glad it's not me driving up from Williams every winter day, snow or no snow. I'll stick with my seasonal employment, thank you!)

There are some nice snow depths especially across the western Mogollon Rim right now.
With 6-12" more in the forecast today, the numbers should increase even more by tomorrow.

It's unusual for the White Mountains to be lagging behind the rim sites since they tend to be 1-2,000 feet higher in elevation.

79" Snowslide Canyon (Inner Basin)
44" Promontory Butte
33" Heber
33" Mormon Mtn
31" Happy Jack
29" Baldy
25" Hannagan Meadow

Snowbowl is reporting 92" and Sunrise 69"-72", but ski area rulers tend to be different from real rulers. Snowbowl and Snowslide are at least in the same ballpark. The Sunrise and Baldy reports are significantly different. Maybe their ruler is right next to a snow gun!

@chumley
Any more rain for the desert ranges with this system? I am greedy I want more!

joebartels wrote:Do hope everyone is preparing for the GOES transition...it will get really nice snapshots of lightning.

First photos are in!
http://www.noaa.gov/stories/noaa-s-goes ... s-of-earth

friendofThundergod wrote:Any more rain for the desert ranges with this system? I am greedy I want more!

The forecast is for 0.5-0.75" for the most part, but the NWS has issued a Flash Flood Watch because the ground is saturated and most washes are already flowing, so any additional rain will lead to immediate flooding of area washes.

azbackpackr wrote:@nikorock28
As you know, I'm not a fan of snow. However, when it arrives in great quantities it becomes more interesting--fun for cross country skiing and photography. As Cactuscat said, I'm a bit jealous. I checked the Canyon Dave Tours schedule and it shows my boss has booked out (cancelled) tours through Thursday. (I'm glad it's not me driving up from Williams every winter day, snow or no snow. I'll stick with my seasonal employment, thank you!)

You and Cactus can have all the snow you want. I don't want any of it, especially since it means longer working days for me and the same pay. lol

Snow and cold are for visiting, from time to time, when it's really in good shape. Not an everyday thing, or something you want to live in. Like cookies, it's a sometimes thing. Like this Friday!

I'm surprised how much Snowbowl reports for snowfall, but the depth hasn't increased much. It's compacting a lot, which is good. 92 inches isn't far off from 100 inches, so I can live with that.

@Jim_H
Well said! Today was such an absurd day in the park.

It's sunny!! And it's forecast to be sunny for the next 7 days, too! Finally. (I worked the last 3 sunny days, including this past Saturday and Sunday.


Snowbowl reports a 24 hour total of 28 inches, and a settled (mid-mountain?) depth of 103 inches. Not bad.

Oh man, It's gorgeous outside!!!

@Jim_H
Today's combination of high wind and below normal temps is putting a real damper on these clear skies...

@hippiepunkpirate
Yeah, I am going to go tomorrow, now. The forecast of 75 MPH gusts at 10,900' or somewhere in that vicinity is not worth it.

The clear weather made yesterday's MODIS satellite photo a stunning view of our state. I've taken the time to label a few landmarks. The snow-capped sky islands are especially neat to see. The northeast corner of the state is obscured by clouds.

You'll want to click and view the full resolution version of this to really get a feel for the snow cover right now.

@chumley
That's very cool - thanks!

Very nice! I haven't heard of the Natanes or Mohan before. I think I'm going to keep this photo handy as sometimes I have the toughest times IDing ranges and such depending on what direction I am looking.

@tibber
The Natanes are along/above the Nantec Rim. It's not visited that often because it's on the reservation. But you may have heard of Point of Pines, which is up there.

Mohon is a prominent peak in the middle of nowhere. There's not a lot of public land in the area, so visitation there is also infrequent.

@chumley
Love how you can see snow clinging to the north facing slopes on all the desert ranges

I like the way this weather improves the views on the local excercise hills! Gorgeous!

The only good thing about it hitting 85 in early February is that it's only gonna be for 2 days and followed by rain, snow, and wind. Looks like Tucson has an outside chance to hit 90 on Friday.