During the past few weeks, Arizona's high country experienced storms from a 'memorable' wind event to surpassing the month of March's average snowfall on its first calendar day, here are some notable highlights.
Flagstaff sets second-highest snowfall total through March 1
From July 1 through March 1, the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport received just over 140 inches of snow, the second-highest total recorded through the time period since it began collecting data 101 years ago.
"As the overall seasonal (snowfall) we're not that close to a record," National Weather Service Flagstaff office meteorologist Mark Stubblefield told The Arizona Republic.
The second-place finish is now only rivaled by the 1948-49 record for the Pulliam Airport, when nearly 154 inches of snow blanketed the area.
The weather service office in Bellemont, however, did set the record for most snow recorded over the same time span with 146.7 inches, crushing the previous mark set in 2009-10 of just 115.4 inches. That same year also produced 118 inches at the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport, the eighth-highest snowfall total there.
Fourth-longest streak of days with snow depth of 10 inches or more
The Flagstaff Pulliam Airport set its fourth-longest consecutive day streak of 47 days with at least 10 or more inches of snow on the ground this year.
The streak, which ended March 2, moved well beyond its fifth-place counterpart of 39 days but fell one day short of tying the third-place mark set in March 1979.
First place still sits comfortably, however, with the March 2010 record of 58 days.
It's worth noting as well that snowfall and snow depth are two separate measurements, snowfall being the sum of the daily recorded number of, well, snow that fell versus the overall depth of snow on the ground (snow depth).
Northern Arizona snowfall numbers
According to the National Weather Service Flagstaff office, the snowfall numbers for Arizona's high country were nothing short of incredible.
As of March 2, here are the snowfall totals:
West/southwest of Downtown Flagstaff: 31 inches
Kachina Village: 30 inches
Flagstaff Airport: 24.5 inches
Munds Park: 23.8 inches
Williams: 23 inches
Bellemont weather service office: 22 inches
Washington Park: 19 inches
3 miles south of Prescott Courthouse: 13 inches
West Sedona: 11 inches
For context, the record at the Flagstaff Airport for single-day snowfall was set in February 2019 when a whopping 35.9 inches was recorded. While the March 1 total of 24.5 inches may dwarf in comparison, it still sets the stage for a new eighth-place finish for the area, according to weather service data.
Another historic feat of the recent winter storms has been the significant amount of drought relief provided by the rain and snowfall. So much so, that drought status is no longer in effect for the Flagstaff area.
Record snow still has some highways closed
Though the snow has alleviated drought conditions, it still does not bode well for some of Arizona's highways.
During the peak of the storms, nearly 12 highways were shut down at once, with the list slowly shrinking as the storm petered out. As of Friday morning, that list wass down to just two highways still reeling from weather-related conditions.
US 180 north of Snowbowl (MP 236-248)
SR 64 near the Grand Canyon National Park East Entrance (MP 244-261)
Comment: View video: Arizona desert covered in snow as winter storm brings plummeting temperatures