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VSF Weather Blog 2010! What a wild and crazy weather year for the Verde Valley and Northern Arizona. Let's review some of the more impressive events. A year ago this month a massive winter storm dumped tons of snow above the Mogollon Rim, while heavy rain and high winds pelted the Verde Valley, the rest of the Yavapai County and Gila County. The storm which began January 18 left in its wake 52.2 inches of snow in the greater Flagstaff area. This is the second highest storm snowfall in Flag history. Prescott was blanketed with between 13 and 18 inches. That plus a little rain amounted to 5.54 inches of precip. That ranks as the third most in Prescott history. Here at Verde Santa Fe we received 4.09 inches of rain over the six day period with 2.30 inches falling on the 21st. The inclusive January total was 4.23 inches. That's a stunning 2.92 inches above normal. Also on the 21st the barometer fell to 29.18 inches confirming the intensity of the storm. On June 20 the Schultz Fire broke out in the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff. The timing of this fire couldn't have been worse for the residents below the fire area as the Monsoon was only a couple of weeks away. With no vegetation to hold back the water any significant rain would be trouble. Sure enough, exactly one month later on July 20th Monsoon storms hit the area with an inch and three quarters of rain in less than an hour. Eighty five homes below the fire suffered flood damage and Highway 89 was closed for awhile. Although this was the worst there were more episodes of flooding during the summer. The Monsoon here at VSF was a mixed bag. July rains were .39 inches over normal thanks to a July 31 storm that showered us with .85 inches bringing our July total to 2.54 inches. August was about normal with 2.06 inches falling compared to a normal of 2.07 inches. The largest daily rain during the Monsoon fell Aug 1 at .94 inches. Things really slowed down in September when we received only .63 inches of rain. Though temperatures were slightly cooler than normal in June, July and August the summer heat continued through September and the first two days of October before finally falling into the 80's, 70's and 60's as the month progressed. October 6th had many ex Mid-Western families thinking they were back in the tornado belt. A total of nine tornadoes were confirmed during the morning and early afternoon. The twisters struck from Blue Ridge (1) to near Tuba City (1) also striking in or near the cities of Bellemont (3), Flagstaff (2), Cordes Junctions (1) and Munds Park (1). The strongest of these tornadoes was a 2+ on the Enhanced Fujita scale meaning the twister packed winds of between 111 and 137 mph. The Weather Service office in Bellemont had a close up view when one of the tornadoes passed within a quarter mile of the station. Though VSF missed all of the destructive storms that day one VSF resident reported a funnel cloud in the vicinity of Bill Grey Rd and Highway 89A. Close enough! Conditions moderated during November but picked up again in mid December culminating with the storm of December 29th-30th. Though snowfall totals weren't in the range of the storm 49 weeks ago they were still impressive with the Flagstaff area picking up a foot and a half of the white stuff. Western parts of Prescott had 9 /12 inches. While snow levels were predicted to fall to the valley floors no significant snow was reported in the Verde Valley. Dustings were reported in the foothills of Mingus Mountain and the rest of the Black Hills Range. Here at the weather station it was basically a non-event; I recorded .34 inches over two days with a maximum wind gust of 27 mph. This was by far the wettest year since I installed my station in 2005. I recorded 16.83 inches of precipitation with January recording the most with 4.23 inches. Temperatures ranged from a high of 108 degrees on July 18th to a low of 17 on November 26th. With a moderate La Nina in the Pacific the outlook for the storms isn't too good in the near future. But, hey, we're talking weather here; anything can happen! — Jerry Madero |
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