Heavy Snow — Northern Gila County, Arizona

2019-11-29 to 2019-11-30 · Northern Gila County, Arizona

Event narrative

Rain changed over to snow around 600 AM on November 29 in Star Valley at 48000 feet. Five inches of snow was measured at 1120 AM. A public report of 9.9 inches of new snow was received from Washington Park at 5,400 feet elevation. Twelve inches of snow fell in Strawberry at about 5,900 feet elevation. Three to five inches of snow fell in Payson right around 5000 feet.

Wider weather episode

A very large are of low pressure brought wind, rain, and snow to northern Arizona Thanksgiving day and Black Friday. Strong southerly winds brought very moist air over Arizona with rising snow levels. Heavy rain fell below around 7500 through much of Thanksgiving Day with lowing snow levels the night of November 29th into the 30th with the passage of a cold front. Snowfall was eventually reported at the bottom of The Grand Canyon. Significant snow was reported as well as increased flows in lower elevations creeks and rivers.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 860649. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.