Believe it or not, it snowed here in Arizona last weekend.
Those that have spent any time here know it shouldn’t come as surprise, not even in April. At least, not historically. In our modern era of climate change, it is a little more rare.
But still, our planet’s weather engine continues to run, providing a duo of disturbances — a frigid cold front sliding down from the Pacific Northwest, a very moist low tracking in from the coast of Southern California — which collided over Northern Arizona on Friday.
The weather models (not to shame them for they do very well, for the most part) underestimated the amount of moisture coming through. And where I was staying in Munds Park, well we absolutely bore the brunt of a mass of moisture that blew up from west.
From my measurements, we saw about ten inches of snow fall in less than twelve hours, although the National Weather Service reported twelve inches at our location.
Whatever the total, we couldn’t believe it piled up like this. And the next morning, the breaking clouds and sunshine made for quite a show on the streets and in the forest too.
This particular photo I shot only a few paces from our doorstep. With snowplows cleaning up the streets as the storm eased up on Friday evening, the Saturday morning sun warmed up the asphalt enough to make it easy for a walk as steam radiated from the still-moist blacktop.
Within a few hours, the sunshine would bring a different type of showers — mists of powder falling from tree branches as the melting snow let go of its grasp on the pine needles.
So yes, winter conditions that most do not expect find in Arizona at all can be assuredly be found in the high country. And most likely this was the last we’ll see of winter weather this spring, but I’ve already claimed that once only to be proven wrong.
Mother Nature keeps us on our toes though. Stay ready for anything out there, folks.
-Jake
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