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| Our First Arizona Snow!
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| Yes, it does snow in Arizona. In the desert... at least, it does at 3500 feet above sea level. This past Saturday (3/11/06), the Phoenix area had its first measurable rainfall in over 140 days, a record dry spell; here in the mountains about 80 miles away, we had had a couple of light evening rains during that same dry spell. It began to rain here Friday, a real gully-washer with some rain-snow mix. It continued overnight, and Saturday morning it turned to snow. |
 The snow accumulates from Saturday afternoon to early Sunday morning
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Between the rain and the snow, every highway into the area was closed by Saturday night. Our little town and its even smaller neighbors were basically cut off from the surrounding towns and cities. Even the life flight helicopters were grounded. Since we couldn't get the van down our hillside driveway, we settled in for the night. At about 2330, the electricity, which had been surging so badly that we'd already given up and unplugged the computer, went out. We scrambled for candles, resolved to buy a battery-powered radio on our next trip to Wal-Mart, then realized that our gas furnace requires an electric blower. When it's cold enough to snow outside your unheated house, you go to bed under a pile of covers. At least the moon was so full that it was almost as bright as day outside. |
| Which proved convenient when we heard a loud crash in the middle of the night. We looked outside to find that our neighbor's carport had collapsed under the accumulated snow. Taking that as an object lesson, we were outside at 0100, brushing the snow from the roof over our front steps, just in case. |
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| We woke Sunday morning to a still-cold house, but, outdoors, it was beautiful! Most of the snow right around the house melted by mid-afternoon, so we hopped in the van to see what the rest of our part of town looked like. We passed several snowmen standing guard in yards and stranded travellers in RVs in the Wal-Mart parking lot, but no one had power back yet. After taking our chances at a couple of intersections with no working traffic lights, we went home and played checkers, talked, and sat on the deck watching young rabbits emerge from their snug burrows. It was a nice, quiet day -- no tv, no computer, no stereo -- and we enjoyed it. The power company got most of the town hooked back up by midnight or so, and, while it's still white on the mountains and in the shade, things are pretty much back to normal after our abnormal weekend. While snow is not unheard of here -- we've been told that the area gets at least a dusting or two most winters -- we heard that this is the most snow seen in the Phoenix area for the last decade or better. We were lucky; rumor has it that the town of Show Low, about an hour north of us, got two feet of snow in the same short time, and their main route in and out is still closed. |  Jamus readies a snow ball for battle |
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So, how odd is it to see snow-covered cactus? Judge for yourself!
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 A few of "Carolyn's chickens" braved the snow in search of the quail buffet
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 Sunday morning, the mountaintops disappeared into clouds |
 Sunday at sunset |
 Monday at sunrise, the copper mine in Miami looked surreal |
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To see local news and photos about the storms, please visit:
Snow draws hundreds to northeast Valley
Valley snow, rain
Rain, snow in state breaks long drought
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