2015: Starts With Snow

New Year's Eve was wet and cold in Tucson. Overnight the temperatures drop and snow fell in the local mountains and in the foothills. The snowline was higher than my home, which is at just over 2,100 feet of elevation. Nearby Sombrero Peak (officially called Safford Peak), which is often a backdrop to my hot air balloon shots, rises to an elevation of 3,563 feet.

As the morning grew brighter it was clear that there was a dusting of snow on the peak, perhaps down to about 3,000 feet or so. We haven't had snow this low since February 2013.

Looking in the other direction, we had a wonderful sunrise to start 2015:

Snow in Tucson

By now most people have heard that Tucson, Arizona had snow yesterday. I think that everywhere at least had flakes coming down.  It certainly didn't stick everywhere though.

We did not have accumulating snow at our place, which is about 2,100 feet in elevation, but only a few hundred feet higher the snow was several inches deep.

Here's how nearby Sombrero Peak looked this morning.

 

Compare that view to yesterday's shot from the University of Arizona webcam pointed at the much higher (and much farther from the camera) Santa Catalina Mountains:

You don't often see snow going pretty much all the way down to the base of the mountains, but yesterday it did.

Snow in the Desert

Last night's winter "storm" in the Tucson area left a dusting of snow all the way down to elevations of about 3,000 feet. That's still higher than my location, but enough for just about all the local mountains to get some of the white stuff.

It is pretty normal for the Santa Catalina Mountains to get snow - they are over 9,000 feet in elevation, but the much lower Tucson Mountains rarely do. Yes, it does occasionally snow all the way down to the desert floor, but not very often.

Here's the view from my back yard this morning looking toward part of the Tucson Mountains. Sombrero Peak, seen in many of my hot air balloon shots did not get any snow. Maybe next time.