Snow Day - Sedona

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.

Daisy Mountain around 3-4 in the afternoon.

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.

Outside of New River.

This green sign marks 3000 feet elev. Daisy Mountain is 3160 ft. Lots of frozen saguaro up here.

Just north of Black Canyon on the plateau. 

Coming down the hill by south of Camp Verde.

Coming into Oak Creek.

Video of us driving through the snow.

South side of Sedona.

This is where we had to wait for traffic to clear.

Hanging out on the golf course.

And he wonders why we call him Rico Suave.

Dean was obsessed with this flag pole on the green and wanted to build a mountain of snow around it.

The max temperature was 31 degrees yet that little puddle wasn't frozen. I think it had some runoff with salt from the parking lot.

Dean isn't as miserable as he looks. He was trying to catch some snow with this tongue and I just got the picture at the wrong time.

Waiting for traffic to clear at the Holiday Inn.

This is from the Sedona Airport. I'm sure the next day the view was amazing with snow covering all the red rocks.

Leaving Sedona. 

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.

From Sunset Point.

Sedona & Flagstaff ---- Snow Trip

If you didn't catch it from my last few post, Arizona just got blasted with snow. I had been planning a trip up to Flagstaff since the day I saw snow on the forecast. I changed around my normal weekend routine last week and we saved Sunday for Flagstaff.

Sunday came and we knew we were going to the snow but couldn't decide where. We were trying to decide if we still wanted to go to Flagstaff after all the snow came in so low or if we wanted to stay closer. Natalie wanted to stay closer, I was having second thoughts about going to the Mogollon Rim (which normally has more snow), and we couldn't decide. So when we left the house we hit I-17 and weren't quite sure where to go. We could see snow on the hills all around us that morning, something rare in Anthem. Once we got just 20 minutes up the highway the snow was everywhere on both sides of us. I have never seen so much snow around here.

When we got to the Cottonwood exit Natalie told me to exit. So we drove through Cottonwood but didn't see any good sledding hills. So we decided to drive through Sedona. Sedona had quite a bit of snow but nowhere to play in it. We drove to the airport buttes to grab a few pictures before heading further north. The parking there is on a hill that declines on the driver's side. So we parked, helped push out a guy who was stuck,took our pictures, then back to the truck to head out. 

Well as I was backing out on the snow that had been melted, compacted, and refrozen into ice, my back-end slid. I went from 2 feet away from the car below us to 1 foot. I tried to dig out and try again but I was now only 6 inches away. So I spent the next 20 minutes trying to dig out even more, front and back, all the way under the tires, and waited for the owners of that car to return. When they got back I dug them out and asked them to pull forward to give me space. I ended up digging them out then pushing them out before I left. My fun didn't end there though. The people below them were sliding too and apparently I'm the only one that brings a shovel. The car below them had no one in it but it was sliding as well. So I dug them out until the palm of my hand was bleeding them told them to finish digging. I was able to push them out then when I got back to my truck backing up was easy. I have no idea if the car below them keep sliding but that experience has made me rethink ever trying to park like that on ice again. My right hand was so raw from the digging I had to put Vaseline on it and keep it covered with a latex glove for two days. 

After a 45 minute digging delay we were back on 89A. Only problem was once we got out of town there was a sign that 89A was closed. So we turned around and had to go all the way back down 179 then back up I-17 to Flagstaff. Our first order of business was lunch. The kids were hungry, we were hungry, and I felt like I earned myself a beer. We had lunch at a pizza joint we have been to before that has some good local beer before heading out to play in the snow.  Leaving NiMarcos we got stuck behind more people getting stuck in the parking lot. It makes me appreciate not living in the snow. Fun to visit but it sucks driving in that craziness and everything is a muddy mess once the plows come in.

I did Adri's hair that morning. She got a compliment from some lady in NiMarcos about it.

From Anthem Way in Anthem. Two days ago everything was covered in snow. The day before the hills were still covered. This is what is left. The mountains behind Gavilan Peak (The big one on the left) aren't usually all that visible until they get some snow on them.

From the Table Mesa area. Table Mesa is so redundant.

By Red Rock and Crescent Moon Ranch in Sedona.

Idiots like this make me think we don't have enough natural selection. Some cars had a foot high pile on their hoods as well with half their windshields blocked. After I took this picture a bus turned in that intersection and a foot high sheet of snow went flying off it.

From the airport buttes in Sedona.

These trees are probably ten feet high. This wasn't a powdery snow It was wet, heavy, and all bunched up.

Downtown Sedona.

Driving back down 179.

Back on I-17 heading to Flagstaff.

@ NiMarcos

I couldn't resist. A grown woman going out for pizza dressed like an alpaca. When she was done eating she put on her alpaca hood and started playing in the dirty parking lot snow.

One of our favorite places to play in the snow.

School's closed.

Icicles to the ground.

Zach doesn't know how to walk in the snow.

Sledding time.

These people also had a big inflatable swan which popped on them.

I can't stand the way trashy people leave their broken plastic sleds all over the place. Leaving their pool worked out for us though.

After playing in Flagstaff we decided to head back towards home and look for more spots. We finally stopped at a location I'm not sharing where the snow was waist to chest high. Both kids got stuck going under this fence. There was a cattle guard under it and the snow didn't get packed under the guard. It all piled up on top and set a booby trap.

The snow here was very powdery and I couldn't form a snowman. So instead I made a volcano. Zach decided he's the hulk and just wanted to "Bistroy" it. I think I made the volcano four times for him.

We got to this place at 4:30 and it was 32 degrees. When we left at 5:10 it was 26 degrees, so cold my gloves and pants were sticking to the metal gate. I had to get in the truck with snow frozen to my pants and let it melt off as I drove.