Yes, there was snow in Arizona, and I do mean the state. To be fair, the bulk of the storm was in the northern portion of the state, where they do see snow, just not like this. The National Weather Service is reporting 20.1 inches fell in Flagstaff yesterday, shattering the day’s previous record of 5 inches set in 1956. As it turns out, Flagstaff’s average snowfall for this point into the season is 20.2 inches. Flagstaff’s total for the season is now 24 inches. For those of you wondering, Flagstaff’s population is estimated as 60,000, well below the 100,000 threshold for the Golden Snow Globe contest.
One area that typically does not see snow is the southern part of Arizona. However, when I got home from work, I noticed that Tuscon (or at least the county Tuscon is in, Pima County) was under a winter storm warning. It appears that most of the snow was only on the mountain tops and not any official reporting stations. Apparently the big news for the area was wind and rain. Tuscon’s Airport recorded a gust of over 40 MPH. Some rain gauges measured over an inch of rain in a 24 hour period. Impressive for any area, but especially for a region that’s known for dry conditions. Source of this data is KOLD in Tuscon, which was found through a Google News search.
Yup, it snowed in the mountains of Tucson Arizona….really, I’m a Syracusan wintering here so I know a thing or two about snow