Record » Stu's Weather Blog

Highs and Lows

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Jul 172010

Did not really see the big storm coming yesterday. I thought things would hold off until today, Saturday. This should be the weather pattern for the weekend. Dewpoints have remained high. There is plenty of precipitable water. Watch-out for flash flooding.

Check this out. A record high and a record low within a few hundred miles of each other? Must be monsoon season.

Record Report


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SXUS75 KFGZ 170155
RERFGZ

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF, AZ
600 PM MST FRI JUL 16 2010


...RECORD HIGH LOW TEMPERATURES FOR NORTHERN ARIZONA ON JUL 16 2010...


CITY (PERIOD OF RECORD)         NEW HIGH LOW     PREVIOUS RECORD/YEAR
HEBER RS (1951 - 2010)                 66          65         IN  1963
PRESCOTT (1898 - 2010)                 71          70         IN  1970


...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES FOR NORTHERN ARIZONA ON JUL 16 2010...

CITY (PERIOD OF RECORD)            NEW HIGH      PREVIOUS RECORD/YEAR
PAGE (1958 - 2010)                    106          104        IN  2006


...RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES FOR NORTHERN ARIZONA ON JUL 16 2010...


CITY (PERIOD OF RECORD)            NEW LOW       PREVIOUS RECORD/YEAR
PETRIFIED FOREST (1931 - 2010)         50          52         IN  1935



THESE RECORDS ARE PRELIMINARY PENDING OFFICIAL REPORTS.

Finally, Rain!

Climate, Monsoon, Northern Arizona Weather, Record Comments Off

Jul 112010

My weather station logged 0.29 inches on Sunday, as a couple thunderstorm waves moved over Flagstaff. Not every place logged as much.

Flagstaff Dewpoint - SUmmer 2010

Monday will maintain higher dewpoints and good chances for thunderstorms. But, as we go into the week, we will see dryer air move back into the area. Of course, this means lower chances for thunderstorms. They should still be possible.

It’s interesting to note that Los Angeles is still in the “June Gloom” mode. This is fairly late in the season for cooler temperatures and gloomy conditions. They set a record for a low, daily maximum temperatures. I am wondering what the meaning of this and high heat on the East Coast and in Central Europe are to our summer monsoon outlook.

Notable Weather

Climate, Northern Arizona Weather, Record, Winter Storms Comments Off

Jul 052010

Well, the 4th of July came and went without the slightest hint of a thunderstorm. This is notable. Seems like July 4th’s bring precipitation to the Northland.This pattern should shift this week. For the next couple of days, high pressure to the southwest of us, which has crept in from the west, will dominate and continue to bring us southwest winds. The flow will shift later in the week as low pressure builds to the southwest of us. This sets up the typical monsoonal flow. By next weekend, the moisture should return, with thunderstorms building.

The Arizona Daily Sun has a front page article about our notable weather last year. As a reminder, the dry monsoon season last summer was due to El Nino. El Nino repositioned the high pressure over us and prevented the monsonal moisture flow.Wildly clear skies resulted in our above average temperatures and no cooling from daily cloud development. El Nino was also responsible for our major snow falls. But, El Nino you typically bring a warmer pattern for the winter. This was clearly not the case.

How cold was it for you?

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Jun 142010

Looks like most of Flagstaff avoided freezing temperatures this weekend. But, some outlying areas, like Bellemont and Fort Valley. KAZFLAGS29, a personal weather station at in the Fort Valley(Baderville?) area recorded a low of 27F yesterday morning. The weather service in Bellemont reported a low of 27F.

It’s always odd to see a record breaking hot weekend followed by record breaking cold the next weekend, or vice versa. Record cold temperatures and record low high temperatures were recorded over the weekend.

Things are looking up from here. Next weekend will hopefully be a near perfect June weekend.

Cold Temperatures -> Less Melting

Northern Arizona Weather, Record Comments Off

Mar 162010

Here is the winter temperature summary from the National Climatic Data Center:

Winter Temperatures 2009-2010

Keep in mind this doesn’t include offsets for things like Urban Heat Island(UHI) effect. Many believe that UHI will prevent many locations from ever breaking record lows. But, the low temperatures certainly explain why the snow is still around. And, how Flagstaff managed to break the record for longest time period with more than 8 inches of snow on the ground.

With the fairly strong El Nino, we were able to collect the precipitation in the first place:

Winter 2010 Precipitation

Just Around the Corner, Again

Northern Arizona Weather, Record, Winter Storms Comments Off

Mar 122010

Once again, the nice weather is just around the corner. Next week should be mostly nice, sunny and warm. But, we have one more small storm that is going to try and make it to Northern Arizona on Saturday Night and Sunday. It will bring only small amounts of precipitation with a high snow level, compared to recent storms.

On the topic of snow fall this year, this chart speaks for itself:

Where’s the Snow?

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Mar 082010

As late as last evening about 8pm, it still looked like we would get 4-8 more inches. For Flagstaff it never materialized. But, don’t worry, today could bring some widely scattered snow, more looks to be on the way for tomorrow. The storm did hold temperatures very constant. Here is an interesting record report:

... Record high low temperatures for northern Arizona on Mar 07 2010...
City (period of record) new high low previous record/year
Cottonwood-tuzigoot (1977 - 2010) 44 44 (tied) in 2001

... Record low high temperatures for northern Arizona on Mar 07 2010...
City (period of record) new low high previous record/year
Cottonwood-tuzigoot (1977 - 2010) 49 50 in 1981

Temperatures just didn’t change much yesterday. I can’t remember seeing this happen before.

While we didn’t end up with piles of snow yesterday, we did set a new precipitation record:

...THE FLAGSTAFF AZ AIRPORT CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 7 2010...

CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1898 TO 2010

WEATHER ITEM   OBSERVED TIME   RECORD YEAR NORMAL DEPARTURE LAST
                VALUE   (LST)  VALUE       VALUE  FROM      YEAR
                                                  NORMAL
..................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
 YESTERDAY
  MAXIMUM         35   1133 AM  66    1972  48    -13       42
                                      1910
  MINIMUM         27   1159 PM  -1    1945  22      5       19
  AVERAGE         31                        35     -4       31

PRECIPITATION (IN)
  YESTERDAY        0.53R         0.52 1918   0.09   0.44      T
  MONTH TO DATE    0.81                      0.67   0.14      T
  SINCE SEP 1     12.79                     13.15  -0.36     8.57
  SINCE JAN 1      8.08                      5.41   2.67     2.21

SNOWFALL (IN)
  YESTERDAY        5.1           7.6  2000   0.8    4.3       T
  MONTH TO DATE    7.1                       5.9    1.2       T
  SINCE SEP 1    129.0                      83.8   45.2     80.7
  SINCE JUL 1    129.0                      83.8   45.2     80.7
  SNOW DEPTH      15

Flagstaff’s Part of Snowiest Decade on Record

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Mar 032010

If you remember the following picture from 2-13-10, you will be interested to know that the weather service still reports 17 inches of snow on the ground. That’s 13 extra days equal to or greater than 1 inch, for a total of 85 days. This puts us in 3rd place for this category (snow cover ≥ 1 inch).

Corrected Flagstaff Snowcoverage??? - National Weather Service Flagstaff

But, we are doing well (poorly?) in a whole host of other categories. I believe today we are still the snowiest city with a population greater than 60,000 for this winter. For other snow fall categories, here is how things stacked up at the end of February (National Weather Service):

...CONSECTUTIVE DAYS OF VARIOUS SNOW DEPTH RECORDS FOR FLAGSTAFF...

 GREATER THAN 20"
    RANK    #DAYS     END DATE
     1        34       2/2/1937
     2        32      1/14/1968
     3        27      2/15/2010
     4        18      2/11/1979
     5        15       4/6/1973

 GREATER THAN 10"
    RANK    #DAYS     END DATE
     1        94      2/28/1906
     2        54       2/5/1968
     3        49      2/14/1937
     4        47       3/4/1979
     5        42      2/28/2010*

 GREATER THAN 5"
    RANK    #DAYS     END DATE
     1        95      2/28/1906
     2        84      2/28/2010*
     3        60      4/12/1973
     4        58       3/4/2008
     5        57       2/8/1968

 GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO 1"
    RANK    #DAYS     END DATE
     1       140      4/23/1973
     2        95      2/28/1906
     3        93      3/10/2008
     4        83      2/28/2010*
     5        80      3/10/1960

 * RECORD STILL BEING SET

There is still snow on the ground, and a wavering chance for more this weekend. A storm this weekend keeps fading in and out of the forecast. Longer term, it looks like we may be in for a cold, dry spell after this weekend. March is still forecasted to be wetter than normal.

Finally, to sum things up, here is a post of interest:

2001-2010 was the Snowiest Decade on Record – wattsupwiththat.com

Second Longest Snow Pack

Northern Arizona Weather, Record Comments Off

Feb 122010

Here is an interesting tidbit from the National Weather Service. Snow cover in Flagstaff is tied for second place for longest llive 1 inch or greater snow depth. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next week as the Eastern United States goes into the deep freeze, and we bask in the sun with above normal temperatures.

Flagstaff Snow Coverage Longevity Records - NWS Flagstaff

Variability Remains High

Climate, Northern Arizona Weather, Record Comments Off

Feb 082010

The Airport reported 12 inches of snow with the recent storm. Keep in mind, the storm was forecasted to bring 4-8 inches at the middle to end of last week. The models for are showing similar variability for the next week. We should see some snow on Wednesday, but not much with 1-4 inches being the model ranges and the forecasts, too.

It’s funny to note that the east coast’s Snowmageddon required only 20-30 inches in most places. We didn’t get a tag name for our massive 54 inches snow storm last month. So, far this season, we have had 106 inches at the airport. That’s 46 inches ahead of normal. Keep in mind that 3 storms have brought the bulk of that snow, 86 inches. (20 inches in December’s big one, 54 in January’s Super Storm and 12 inches in this last storm, apologize for rounding errors). Keep in mind that March is the big snow and precipitation month!

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Switzer Canyon, AZ

Switzer Canyon, Flagstaff, AZ
temp:	71.6 F (22.0 C)
humidity:	14%
wind:	From the SSW at 3.4 MPH Gusting to 10.3 MPH
pressure:	30.18" (1021.9 mb)
station:	KAZFLAGS23
hardware:	Oregon Scientific WMR-100a
updated:	May 22, 5:26 PM MST
local forecast