HikeArizona.COM

The endless chatter of weather.

chumley wrote: ↑Mar 01 2022 4:05 pm @big_load Oh I remember pre-Janice fat Al! Those were the days. Chuck and Sue too!

I miss Sue, I can't believe she's already been gone ten years. Chuck still gets on air now and then, but he's definitely lost a step.

@chumley
Yeah but do you remember Cousin Brucie, Sonny Fox, and Tommy Seven? And Hector Lopez, Marv Throneberry, and...oh, never mind.

@Hansenaz
Who could forget Marvelous Marv!

While not significant precipitation makers, it seems that we're in a pattern with a bit of a conveyor-belt of cold-front/troughs pushing south through utah and affecting primarily the northern half of the state. A few inches of snow late last week may get topped with another light accumulation event tomorrow, and early signs anticipate a similar system around the middle of next week. Not drought-busting storms, but they certainly don't hurt. There's snowmelt resulting in surface flow on the mogollon rim now, which wasn't the case even a couple of weeks ago.

Any more precipitation is a good thing at this point.

Bullhead City, also a part of Northern Arizona, is forecasting, not rain or snow, but a lot of wind, with 50 mph gusts. The last time there was a big windstorm in this part of the Colorado River Valley the tall McDonald's sign in Fort Mohave blew over, and smashed a car, and a gas station awning was blown down. https://www.abc15.com/news/region-north ... ng-vehicle

The weather system over AZ right now stretches all the way to New England. It's expected to bring us another round of high winds and snow on Saturday.

azbackpackr wrote:a lot of wind, with 50 mph gusts.

High winds worry me more than anything but ice storms. I sleep a little easier now because we just took down a huge oak tree that hung over our house. It dropped a several ton branch last summer that miraculously didn't wreck anything and we've been trying to get somebody to work on it ever since. One of the bidders said they would have to cut power to the whole neighborhood to work on it. Fortunately, it didn't come to that, but it did take two cranes working in tandem.

@big_load
Wow! My son in Florida has an enormous tall laurel oak next to the house he recently bought near Jacksonville. He spent $1000 to have a few giant branches trimmed while I was visiting. The tree trimmer said it would cost $4000 to take it all the way down, so he only paid for a trim. It had many rotten branches. Even after spending that money, they had a big storm, a branch fell and poked a hole in the roof.

Ach, Florida--too many trees!

wrote: ... a branch fell and poked a hole in the roof.

Yikes!

Cool, thunder, lightning and rain water ponding in my yard! Getting some hail accumulation now.

@RedRoxx44
Light rain in Payson, last week had a thunderstorm. Glad I am not in the SE next couple of days.

This afternoon I got splashes of water☂ while hiking McDowell Sonoran Preserve around Granite Mountain. Heard a couple big bangs of thunder. Storm passed over and looks like it pounded the Four Peaks and Mazzies later.

This afternoon, right when I reached the Bright Angel trailhead, completing a R2R2R backpacking trip, I was greeted with a snowstorm.

rcorfman wrote: ↑Mar 20 2022 10:24 pm This afternoon, right when I reached the Bright Angel trailhead, completing a R2R2R backpacking trip, I was greeted with a snowstorm.

I was just looking at the 10-day forecast for my upcoming trip and saw predictions in the upper 80s in the village by the end of the month. I'm not willing to bet my long unders that it will remain temperate for the whole subsequent week.

rcorfman wrote: ↑Mar 20 2022 10:24 pm This afternoon, right when I reached the Bright Angel trailhead, completing a R2R2R backpacking trip, I was greeted with a snowstorm.

How were the snow and ice conditions on the upper parts of BA? Are traction devices advisable? I have the same questions for South Kaibab. I expect it won't be an issue everywhere else I'm going.

@big_load
South Kaibab was pretty clear when we descended Thursday morning 3/17. It was easy to avoid any ice so no traction aid needed. North Kaibab was slushy and muddy above the last rest stop Friday afternoon but I was happy to have micro spikes for the descent Saturday morning, at least for the start. Bright Angel was muddy and slushy from 1.5 mile rest stop up. Watch out for the green mud. I imagine it would be an icy mess in the morning.

@rcorfman

Thanks!

Riding my bike, I tend to notice when the wind is anything more than calm. Of course, it tends to shift so it's always a headwind, regardless of which direction I'm riding.

NWSPHX posted this infographic that verifies some of my conjectural thoughts in recent weeks.

@chumley
Just in time for the panacea (unless you are a bird) ..... 'wind power'.

@hikeaz yeah, I have a feeling that this trend is gonna blow on outta here within the next few weeks!