HikeArizona.COM

The endless chatter of weather.

charkellyaz18 wrote:Wow. Snowbowl has already had 238in of snow this ski season. thats 12in away from the average of 250in and its still only the beginning of february. This could be the biggest snow season in the last 10 years

So much for global warning...

SuperstitionGuy wrote:

charkellyaz18 wrote:Wow. Snowbowl has already had 238in of snow this ski season. thats 12in away from the average of 250in and its still only the beginning of february. This could be the biggest snow season in the last 10 years

So much for global warning...

Lol yeh. But it is El nino

I'm skiing Sat and Sun mornings again, if anyone wants to come up. I think a couple ABC folks might show up Sat with snow shoes and skis. PM me if interested.

Right now, I'm just glad to have a long wave ridge forecast to develop over the next week or so. We've had plenty of precipitation for a while, but I don't want it to get really dry again. Hopefully a big storm or two will hit at the end of the month. For the short term, its Humphrey for Friday so I can get my altitude fix.

I've been loving this week long high pressure and sunny sky event we've been having. Still, the other day I noticed that it was the 15th. Does it seem like winter is going really fast? In just few a more weeks it will be March and once spring break rolls around it will basically no longer be winter. Even on the Peaks there is usually a transition to faster warm ups, more melting, and higher winds in March. Yup, soon it will be....monsoon season.

jhodlof wrote:Yup, soon it will be....monsoon season.

I think the thread title should switch to something related to the first 100-degree day in the valley before switching back to the monsoon title.

But I'm still hanging on to the snow part of the thread. Basically, we had one friggen huge storm ... and not much else. I want more!

I don't think we're done with snow. In fact, there is snow in the forecast, although it looks like mostly a windstorm with very little snow accumulation. (Springtime in the White Mtns. is VERY windy!)

Winter in AZ is like a fickle, delicate flower. It only blooms a short time, and if conditions aren't just right, the bloom is small and sad. But, we all rush out to take a picture of it anyway, because it's the only flower we've got!

I can't wait for summer. Green meadows, wildflowers, sweet solo singletrack on my mtn. bike, offtrail hikes to obscure peaks which don't see human footprints (or register signers) for 2 or 3 years in a row...

But right now it is RIVER SEASON. No question about it in my mind. I am organizing a group of people to go on a commercial one-day paddle raft trip on the upper Salt. It does cost money. PM me if interested. It will probably be around the first weekend in April, or last weekend in March. Or maybe sooner, haven't decided yet.

Speaking of the Upper Salt .... Tonto NF just recently posted a nice map of the river run. Check it out if you haven't seen it yet.

That is a cool map. Take out for the day trip is just before the brown "no stopping, cultural lands" area.

There is a small storm forecast for the weekend in these parts, and then there could be a larger one for next week. Odds are, with the models in disagreement, it will be mostly dry around here with no real storms for a while. I'd still like 2 or 3 really big storms (18"+ of snow, and better than 1.5" of snow water equivalent) this winter. It wouldn't be bad if they came in March, since somehow March has been dry in every year I have lived in Flagstaff, but I really don't want AZ and especially CO to be impacted by storms between the 16th and the 21st.

How is that exactly, that every March since 2007 has been dry here in Flagstaff, when it is supposed to be our wettest non-monsoon month? Even last year when it was exceedingly wet in May, March was dry.

jhodlof, I see that you recently did a hike in the Sedona area. Did you notice much snow in Oak Creek Canyon?

The snow is dirty and old up canyon, melted out in the lower part. I don't remember the snowline elevation, but north of slide rock its bare.

It is very springlike up here during the day right now. Temps in the 50s, sunshine, birds singing. I am pretty sure that winter is not yet over. I am pretty sure the snow is very icy right now at Pole Knoll, but with the addition of only an inch or two on top of it, conditions will be good again. So I am hoping that storm will bring us more than just wind!

It is raining in N Phx.

Re: HPP's Supes Initiation - Flatiron/5024
by johnlp » Feb 19 2010 6:05 pm

Weather.com says 90% chance of rain at 11 AM, tapering off to 30% in the afternoon.

I think 11AM may be right on. So it could be a slippery hike down.

We got down at 10 - 10:30 and avoided most of the rain.

johnlp wrote:We got down at 10 - 10:30 and avoided most of the rain.

Did you get funky?

jhodlof wrote:Did you get funky?

Denny did at 1:48 seconds in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfbt53jRzOc

How did Bob get down? I believe all of us started down while he was videotaping us from the north, and I don't remember seeing him pass me which he assuredly would have as I was going pretty pokey.