The Real McCoy

Monday night, just before retiring for the evening, I received an email stating the snow situation in Flagstaff. Thanks, MJ! This morning, I scurried off to the Arizona SNOTEL network. WOW! This storm was truly "The Real McCoy."

White Horse Lake SNOTEL is south of Williams, Arizona. It often gets missed by Arizona winter storms. Not this time. It gained 2.3 inches of actual water and went from 6 inches of snow to 25 inches!

Happy Jack is another tell-tale SNOTEL. When Happy Jack gets smacked, you can figure the entire Mogollon Rim and Coconino Plateau got smacked. Get this: Happy Jack has gained over FOUR INCHES of water and the snow depth went from 9 to 36 inches!

Now that's a GREAT Arizona winter storm. That's the kind of storm that makes whitewater boaters grin from ear-to-ear. That's the kind of storm that fills reservoirs. That's just plain awesome.

The Tuesday morning red eye AFD says this storm is mostly gone. Maybe the Rimlands will get another inch or two today. Maybe not. The AFD says unsettled weather is in store and models are hinting at the possibility of another decent snowstorm within a week or so.

At this point, however, I'd say Arizona is "out of the woods" for this water year. As you noted in Sunday School, Arizona's reservoirs were already sitting pretty. This type of snowpack will put them over the top. Congratulations to Ol' Airy Zonie!

NOTE: Here is the text of the email rec'd last night:

"Well! We are getting dumped on for sure! Woke up to 6 inches Sunday morning, more throughout the day, six more this morning, and just coming down all day, really heavy now. Very windy, too. It's good snowball-making snow, too. We'll see how much we have in the morning. Your resident Flagstaff weather reporter, MJ"

Click here for a link to the latest Flagstaff newspaper story about the story. A DPS Commander called it, "the worst snowstorm that DPS has ever had to deal with in northern Arizona."