Heavy Snow — Kaibab Plateau, Arizona

2023-11-24 · Kaibab Plateau, Arizona

Event narrative

Eight inches of snow fell at North Rim Entrance Station of the Grand Canyon National Park at 8,800 feet elevation. Four inches of snow fell at the Bright Angel Ranger Station on the North Rim (edge) of the Grand Canyon at just over 8,200 feet elevation.

Wider weather episode

A trough over the Great Basin gradually moved eastward through Utah into Colorado. As this occurred, a shortwave dropped through southern Utah/northern Arizona late on November 24 into November 25. Southerly flow and increasing pressure gradient, increased moisture advection into the region. Showers began to develop over southern Utah and southern Nevada during the morning of November 24. The cold front was quite dynamic as it traveled across Arizona with thunderstorms north of Flagstaff with rather decent rainfall rates. The Kaibab Plateau and Chuska Mountains received the greatest amounts of precipitation before the storm moved east on November 25.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1144993. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.