Week of winter storms drops more than 5 FEET of snow in Flagstaff, Arizona area

Lindsey C. Riley
kjzz.org
Thu, 19 Jan 2023 12:00 UTC

© Jake Bacon, Arizona Daily Sun
A collapsed hoop house at the U.S. Geological Survey on Switzer Mesa collapsed under the weight of snow following a series of winter storms that dropped more than 3 feet of snow on Flagstaff. The three hoop houses are part of an experiment to test drought tolerance of native plants from the Colorado Plateau.

Winter storms in the past week dropped more than 5 feet of snow in parts of Flagstaff. And additional snowfall is expected with the latest weather system moving in Thursday night.

Angelina Grubb is with the Arizona Snowbowl. She said skiers and snowboarders will have plenty of fresh powder this weekend.

"It's been great to see that much snowfall so early in the season, and so we're really happy about it," Grubb said.

In the middle of a series of winter storms that brought more than 20 inches of snow to Flagstaff in 48 hours, a woman digs out her driveway Monday morning as snow continues to fall.

© Jake Bacon, Arizona Daily Sun
In the middle of a series of winter storms that brought more than 20 inches of snow to Flagstaff in 48 hours, a woman digs out her driveway Monday morning as snow continues to fall.

The heavy snowfall also has the Coconino County Sheriff's Office warning of the potential for avalanches in the backcountry of the San Francisco Peaks. The area beyond the Snowbowl ski boundary is not routinely maintained or patrolled.

In the warning issued Wednesday, the Sheriff's Office said it urged "skiers and snowboarders who intend to enter the backcountry from the Arizona Snowbowl to carefully consider the consequences of that decision and determine if they have the training and equipment to safely conduct their intended activity."

© Rachel Gibbons, Arizona Daily Sun
Nico Valdez (left) and Alexandra Lipinski (right) of the NAU Young Dems hang out in an igloo made by unknown students Tuesday afternoon after Flagstaff received over 2 1/2 feet of snow beginning Saturday night. NAU students were supposed to return to campus after winter break this week, but cancelled classes left the university fairly empty early in the week.

Comment: Record-breaking snowfall blankets northern Arizona

Reader Comments

Winternights3 · 2023-01-20T16:20:18Z

Nowt liken to a bit of snow, shame that bit were 5 ft deep 🤣

Shouldn't laugh, there's more on the way.

Animanarchy · 2023-01-20T16:37:14Z

Winternights3 Woo, that's a lot, I'm not sure if I've seen drifts that high, or that would be about the max, though since my old house was built on a hill with the driveway going to the bottom of a valley and a curving road going through from which a lot of idiot drivers going too fast for the curve would go in our ditch at the end of the driveway and destroy our decorative corner of old farm style wood fencing one side and mess up a tree somewhat and some drunk guys flipped a car there, no one hurt, a snowplow got stuck in the drifts there and needed another to pull it out. Gotta love snowdays.

I feel spoiled here in the south central Ontario because it's been a pretty warm winter with only a little bit of snow overall meanwhile people are experiencing extremes all over the place.

Winternights3 · 2023-01-20T16:57:40Z

Animanarchy Hmm 🤔 unfortunately snow doesn't register as been dangerous to some folk 🤪, especially those that damage one property .

Its interesting to monitor reactions to recent snowfall, to some its about normal, others further South it amounts to armageddon

Interestingly the Canadians are almost reporting a heat wave 🥵

It would seem that this Winters snowfall is below average and temps just aren't cutting the mustard.

Animanarchy · 2023-01-20T17:14:10Z

Winternights3 All the times I can remember cars going in the ditch weren't actually in the winter. They were just reckless drivers who didn't understand the physics of speeding down a hill while turning on a dirt and gravel road.

That was a death trap spot for some of our cats too since at the top of the hill the decline was too sudden and steep to see below until cresting it. At least my parents eventually decided to contact the municipality and got the speed limit reduced from 80km/hr to 50 for that stretch of the road.

I wonder how people used to warmer temperatures are faring. I know two guys from Jamaica (one who's been here over 20 years and never acclimated, must be genetic) who were always saying it was freezing and all bundled up with extra layers when the average Canadian was basically in a toque and sweater or jacket.

Winternights3 · 2023-01-20T17:23:39Z

Animanarchy It interesting to see how different nationalities drive.

I shudder when I witness such gung-ho attitudes to driving and such blatant disrespect to road conditions.

I've been driving 47 years now, I driving a rather nippy Ford, but such boisterous attitudes disappeared years ago.

Animanarchy · 2023-01-20T17:32:56Z

Winternights3 Yep, plenty of wild and clueless drivers out there to be wary of.