The last year we have been in a really bad drought. Last week we finally put a dent in that when we got dumped on nearly every day for a week. It's been two years since it snowed in our area. Normally we get a light snow every few years where we are (at 1900 feet elev). Two of the storms last week were 3 days apart and the forecast was that we would get an inch of snow. I watch the weather very closely and it looked like a believable forecast. Two years ago they were calling for trace amounts, this time they were calling for up to an inch. The day before they said it was going to snow was just like the previous snow day. We started with heavy rain, then hail, then cold, and Daisy already had snow in the afternoon. I thought for sure the forecast would be right and we would get snow overnight. Well, it wasn't.
I woke up several times that night looking outside and checking the radar. Radar started showing snow over us around 4 am but it was melting before we could even see it. A pocket of warmer air was hugging I-17 all the way up to the plateau north of Black Canyon City. I woke up surprised that Daisy had very little visible snow from our house. It was a little disappointing but didn't change our plans, we were going to the snow that day. As we were getting ready between 8-9 that morning we got a light mix of what looked like snow but was probably graupel. It was pretty pathetic and melting within 30 seconds of hitting the ground.
We got a late start that morning because I haven't done a lot of driving while it is snowing in this state. I did a little research that morning about the different salts they use on the road and how cold it has to be to freeze which each salt. I decided at ten we were definitely safe. The roads were clear for the most part. We didn't know where we were going until we were on the road and then Natalie decided Sedona. We got up to Sedona and couldn't go past Bell Rock off 89A. Apparently a big rig jack knifed and they were turning everyone around at the round about. We decided to cut west at the round about and parked by the OakCreek Country Club.
It turned out to be a pretty good spot to hang out. There weren't too many people. There were good views, and it snowed the whole time we were there. We hung out for a couple hours then tried to go back north but the road was still closed. So we stopped at the Holiday Inn and let the kids get out and play for a while. We could watch the road closure from there and we finally decided we were going to give up and go home. Well just as we were pulling out of the parking lot I could see the hazmat truck leaving. We flipped a u-turn and headed downtown.
We drove up to one of the best easily accessible lookouts, the airport. After a good snow the views up there are amazing. Well today wasn't one of those days. It was a whiteout! All that waiting to get into the city and everything was shutdown so we turned around and went home.
Three days later we had another storm forecasted to come in. No snow this time for the Phoenix area but the mountains were going to get blasted. This was Dean's first time getting to really play in the snow. He liked it, until he got cold. Once he was cold he was crying for the truck. Natalie ended up getting him some better clothes for the next trip.
After our afternoon hail storm.
That is Black Mesa and Tonto National Forest covered in white. Normally we don't even notice the mountains behind Gavilan Peak and Daisy Mountain.
Natalie took this picture from the Outlets just a half mile down the street.
The kids outside when we got some graupel.
We went from a prediction of 1 inch of snow to this graupel. The kids still thought it was cool and they were shaped like snowflakes.
Video of us driving through the snow.
South side of Sedona.
Dean was obsessed with this flag pole on the green and wanted to build a mountain of snow around it.
On the way back home. I don't know what is going on here. It looks like a mix of snow plus maybe the wind blowing the snow already on the mountain. Looked really cool.
No comments:
Post a Comment