Historic long-term average is 24”, annually. The average over the last 15 years is about 12”. Just this past week we got 8”, followed up by another 6” the next day, at our house (5470’ elevation.) Snowfall is highly dependent on elevation. The Prescott airport, where the official measurements are taken is at 5045’ elevation. The “official” record for this last week snowfall was just 8”, substantially below the 14” we received here at our home. AZ weather is all about elevation. Flagstaff at just under 7,000’ gets a NWS average of 105” per year making it the third snowiest city in the U.S. behind Buffalo and Syracuse, NY with their lake effect snows. Snow here tends to be wet and heavy. Snow blowers don’t work and the result is a lot of heavy shoveling and pushing. I resorted to a 5.5 cu. ft. wheelbarrow and shovel to get my driveway cleared and estimated I moved about 5 tons of snow last week. It was pretty much like handling a slushee. The city does a good job of plowing the thoroughfares but secondary streets can be left unplowed for several days. A set of good all-weather tires are a must and 4WD is highly recommended if you live in some of the steeper neighborhoods. Chains will get you in or out of the neighborhoods, but then you quickly get to bare streets where you need to unchain or crawl along at 20-25 mph.
Right on. I'm at 5,680 ft., near the butte, and my morning walks take me up to 6K on N/S Horizon Circle. It was heavy up here, but remained powdery. Still quite a bit shift, and I'm still feeling it! Must have moved at least a couple of tons, but nowhere near your 5...ouch!
this is one sublject i wish the news would not mislead people on, its one reason so many move here becasue they believe we dont get much if any snow due to the misleading news coverage. this is the most accurate coverage on our weather
Thanks for your comment - so true. If I'm not mistaken, official precipitation amounts are recorded at the airport - a spot that, IMO, is not representative of most of Prescott. It's barely 5,000 ft. in elevation (5,045). That is a fact that I rarely hear included in any weather report.
Historic long-term average is 24”, annually. The average over the last 15 years is about 12”. Just this past week we got 8”, followed up by another 6” the next day, at our house (5470’ elevation.) Snowfall is highly dependent on elevation. The Prescott airport, where the official measurements are taken is at 5045’ elevation. The “official” record for this last week snowfall was just 8”, substantially below the 14” we received here at our home.
AZ weather is all about elevation. Flagstaff at just under 7,000’ gets a NWS average of 105” per year making it the third snowiest city in the U.S. behind Buffalo and Syracuse, NY with their lake effect snows. Snow here tends to be wet and heavy. Snow blowers don’t work and the result is a lot of heavy shoveling and pushing. I resorted to a 5.5 cu. ft. wheelbarrow and shovel to get my driveway cleared and estimated I moved about 5 tons of snow last week. It was pretty much like handling a slushee.
The city does a good job of plowing the thoroughfares but secondary streets can be left unplowed for several days. A set of good all-weather tires are a must and 4WD is highly recommended if you live in some of the steeper neighborhoods. Chains will get you in or out of the neighborhoods, but then you quickly get to bare streets where you need to unchain or crawl along at 20-25 mph.
Right on. I'm at 5,680 ft., near the butte, and my morning walks take me up to 6K on N/S Horizon Circle. It was heavy up here, but remained powdery. Still quite a bit shift, and I'm still feeling it! Must have moved at least a couple of tons, but nowhere near your 5...ouch!
this is one sublject i wish the news would not mislead people on, its one reason so many move here becasue they believe we dont get much if any snow due to the misleading news coverage. this is the most accurate coverage on our weather
Thanks for your comment - so true. If I'm not mistaken, official precipitation amounts are recorded at the airport - a spot that, IMO, is not representative of most of Prescott. It's barely 5,000 ft. in elevation (5,045). That is a fact that I rarely hear included in any weather report.