Flagstaff/Williams weather (Phoenix, Sedona, Winslow: motel, home, live)

[Slater]

The days have been really beautiful lately. Anyone recall if there was a lot of snow on the ground this time last year?

[CodyW]

I think there was one bigger storm at the beginning of December, last year. From then on, it was pretty calm until February and March. There was a pretty massive storm last march.

[magnum0417]

4 seasons with over 80 inches of snow above 7000 feet in the Williams to Flagstaff corridor. Snowfall is greatly reduced once you drop a couple thousand feet down to Ash Fork or Winslow. The SF Peaks tend to "fetch a lot of snow" due to uplift from Pacific Storms and just hammer Flag and places 30 miles away are bright and sunny.

There was most definitely snow in early December of last year. The snowlevels were down to around 2000 feet and even the tops of the McDowells near PHX had a coating.

[Slater]

Some of the weather folks say that Flagstaff is going to get drier and warmer in the years ahead. Given current conditions, they might be right.

[portlanderinOC]

I just took a trip to Sedona and Flagstaff earlier this week, just got home today actually. I was amazed at how warm it was the entire time, Sedona was in the 70s during the day. There wasn't even any snow on Humphery's Peak, which is strange because I've seen snow at the top of that mountain in the middle of summer; I thought it was glacial.
This year has been unusually warm for the Southwestern United States, I know because Southern California's summer didn't end till Veteran's Day this year, and just today there was a high of 90 in my town.

[magnum0417]

Originally Posted by portlanderinOC

I just took a trip to Sedona and Flagstaff earlier this week, just got home today actually. I was amazed at how warm it was the entire time, Sedona was in the 70s during the day. There wasn't even any snow on Humphery's Peak, which is strange because I've seen snow at the top of that mountain in the middle of summer; I thought it was glacial.
This year has been unusually warm for the Southwestern United States, I know because Southern California's summer didn't end till Veteran's Day this year, and just today there was a high of 90 in my town.

That's amazing. I went to the Grand Canyon the first week of June and took the scenic Rte 180 from Flag over to Valle. Just before you hit the 8500 ft above sea level marker on Rte 180, you have a good visual of the west slope of the SF Peaks. There were patches of snow at the time that were visible on the west slope the first week of June.

[CodyW]

Snow on the peaks is usually gone by the first week of July, at the latest. Earlier in the season though, the south side facing Flagstaff can be bare, while the northern side is blanketed with snow. Something to do with storm patterns and sun exposure, I'm sure.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by CodyW

I think there was one bigger storm at the beginning of December, last year. From then on, it was pretty calm until February and March. There was a pretty massive storm last march.

It sure was massive, about three feet worth!

I got caught in it as I was heading down to Phoenix for some preseason major League baseball and stayed in Flag overnight. I could have pushed it to Phoenix but I wanted to do some trading at Bookman's and pick up some road tunes at Hastings Cd and Video (stores are close together) Was stuck in my motel room for two days. I-17 and I-40 was shut down for a day and a half but U.S. 89 was open. If one could get to Cameron (30 miles north), what little snow they got melted after a few hours as they are around 5000 ft. elevation. I couldn't get out of the motel parking lot though!

[CodyW]

Yes. Digging my car out was not fun after that one. Seems to be the pattern in Flagstaff, though. When it snows, it SNOWS.

[buckeyenative01]

I'm actually a bit concerned about how nice/warm it is this late in the year in Flagstaff. I was down in Phoenix last weekend and don't ever remember, in the 15 years I've lived in Arizona, it being 85F during Thanksgiving.