It was amusing for the first couple of snowfalls this winter, with an inch or two of snow, enough to add a topping of white to the cacti of Tucson. This time the weather got serious and dropped up to 7 inches in the foothills where we live! The good news is by late afternoon it had all melted.
Amusingly the official measurements at the Tucson Airport for this winter shows more snowfall there than in Washington DC or Philadelphia, each of which has had essentially no snow so far.
The local weather people called it ‘generational’, something not seen in a couple of decades.
It was however beautiful while it lasted, and didn’t stick to the roads. All those snowbirds in town are probably asking for a refund.
I headed out at first light. While you could get into part of Saguaro National Park, the 8 mile loop road remained closed greatly restricting the initial views with the heaviest snow.
It had snowed heavily overnight, and by daylight the clouds were beginning to break up and the morning sun was illuminating a mountain visible from ~25 miles away.
At nearby Agua Caliente Park the palm trees also had snow toppings, as well as some fog rising off of the pond.
The drive back past Saguaro National Park showed more of the heavy snow on the vegetation, as well as the snow free roads.
A quick visit back to Colossal Cave Park, where we had played in the snow last Sunday.
The cave has enough elevation where you had great views across the valleys to the nearby mountains, with the valleys even having snow.
A brief stop in the neighborhood.
It was late enough in the morning that Saguaro National Park had finally opened the loop road. While some of the snow had already melted by mid day, there was still plenty for some amazing scenes.
While it is beautiful, enough is enough – time to get back to Arizona March – sunny days in the 70s.
RDZ Photography 