Heavy Snow — Northern Gila County, Arizona

2022-02-22 to 2022-02-23 · Northern Gila County, Arizona

Event narrative

Heavy snow fell across northern Gila County including Strawberry 13, Washington Park 8.8, Payson 6.5, 7.0 in Star Valley, and Forest Lakes 16.

Wider weather episode

A large trough of low pressure brought increasing moisture off from off the eastern Pacific marine layer over central Arizona. This brought extensive upslope snow shower activity coverage, especially along and White Mountains. The trough brought very cold air across Arizona (down to -12C at 700 mb) with saturation to at least 500 mb. This made for a very efficient snow process with significant, widespread accumulations.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1010861. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.