WINTER’S WALLOP
Lower elevations enjoy a winter wonderland
The Twitter hashtags helped tell the story. #Snowmageddon. #Snowpocalypse. #Snowday. Those pretty much summed up a big part of what turned out to be one of the most intense winter storms to barrel through Arizona in quite some time.
But it may not be long before this power punch becomes a wistful memory: The forecast for Phoenix calls for temperatures to climb into the 70s by early next week.
On Friday, record-setting snowfall totals in Arizona’s high country and the Valley’s northern fringes still were creating a buzz. In the Phoenix metro area, nobody escaped the cold, soaking rain, which totaled more than 2 inches in many spots.
Phoenix set a new record for the “lowest” high temperature Friday, 47 degrees. That shattered the previous record of 54 set back in 1897, when Arizona was still a territory. The historic average high temperature for the date is about 73 degrees, while the average low is about 50 degrees.
It was all courtesy of a massive Pacific storm that moved into the state Wednesday night and continued its barrage into Friday afternoon.
The combination of cold and moisture dropped snow levels down around 2,000 feet, creating a Winter Wonderland in northern Scottsdale, Carefree, Cave Creek and other nearby areas.
Near the Four Seasons Resort in north Scottsdale, only one season was on everyone’s mind.
“It is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Carolyn Berryman, a resident of Scottsdale who lives near Dynamite Boulevard and Alma School Parkway, near the hotel in an area where saguaros and desert-style homes were covered with snow early Friday morning.
“Everybody is pretty much at awe and just enjoying it and taking it in.” “They (neighbors) are freaking out, they are staying in, they’re glad they have food, they’re worried about their landscape.”
Even Conrad Lamoureaux, a visitor from Canada, was in the area to see the snow.
“We never expected it in a million years, and I think the novelty is just awesome, it’s great,” he said.
Snow fell at elevations as low as 2,000 feet in the Valley, with 8 inches accumulating in some parts, said Marvin Percha, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Arizona.
“It was a significant storm,” Percha said. “We saw trace dusting amounts as low as 2,000 feet and significantly more as you go above 3,000 feet… It’s probably upwards to 20 years since we’ve seen significant snow at levels that low.”
The storm’s impact was felt in many ways, particularly in northern Arizona, along the Mogollon Rim and in eastern Arizona.
Flagstaff declared a state of emergency Thursday, after nearly 32 inches of snow fell that day alone, setting a new record for the most snow ever recorded in one day in the city. Prescott, Payson, Show Low, Heber-Overgaard and Williams all received about two feet or more.
Long stretches of major highways were closed, but some had been cleared and reopened by Friday, including Interstate 17 and State Routes 87 and 260, major routes that connect the Phoenix area to northern Arizona and Rim Country communities.
The Arizona Department of Transportation cautioned motorists who may be heading north on Saturday to play in snow to drive with caution and not park alongside highways or well-traveled roads. Local roads in some areas still could be icy on Saturday.
Events across the valley also were affected. AZ & NM FIRST Tech Challenge Championship which was scheduled for this weekend was postponed to March 22 and 23, the event website said.
The Arizona Interscholastic Association had to reschedule and cancel some games of the 1A and 2A high school basketball tournament, according to AIA Executive Director David Hines.
Devour Culinary Classic, a food festival at Desert Botanical Garden n Phoenix, had two restaurants pull out due to the snowy conditions and others were possibly impacted by travel limitations.
The Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale sustained $50,000 dollars worth of damages from the storm, although no animals were hurt, a spokesperson for the center said.