Arizona may be well-known for its brutal summers, but winter can also be a bit of a doozy some years! If you’re currently missing the snow, take a look back at a few instances when winter weather totally caught us by surprise. Here are five winter storms in Arizona that we didn’t expect to happen:
- Yuma, 1932
Moreno Berti/Flickr The sunniest city in our state is known for being the winter lettuce capital for a reason: its mild winter temperatures, sunny days, and no snow make for perfect winter crop conditions. However, that wasn’t the case in 1932 when the city 1.5 inches on December 12 of that year!
- Phoenix, 1937
Broderick Delaney/Flickr It’s not uncommon to see the mountains surrounding Phoenix covered in a bit of snow, like the Superstition Mountains seen here. But snow in the city of Phoenix? It’s happened before and the most recorded was one inch on January 21, 1937. Other parts of the Valley saw slightly more snow that same day, some reporting up to four inches!
- Northern Arizona, 1967
Fireground/Flickr Arizona’s biggest snowstorm took place during the Christmas of 1967, an event many Arizonans were completely unprepared for. Some areas, like Greer, saw more than 8 feet of snow or more, covering houses and leaving people barricaded in their homes for days. However, it was people located in rural areas who were affected the most dramatically by the storm and emergency supplies needed to be delivered by helicopter.
You can read more about the event in one of our previous articles.
- Tucson, 1971
teakay/Flickr Seeing snow in the desert is a rare sight and Tucson found itself transformed into a winter wonderland in 1971. On December 8 that year, nearly 7 inches of snow fell in the city and even caused the airport to cancel flights since it did not own a snow plow.
- Northern Arizona, 2010
Fireground/Flickr Another dramatic snow storm that took Arizona by surprise occurred in January 2010 and its snow depths rivaled those recorded back in 1967. Places like Flagstaff received around 6 feet of snow in a short time period and a state of emergency was declared to assist those in rural areas.
You can read more about the event in one of our previous articles.
Do you remember any of these events? What other “surprise” winter storms would you add to this list?
Moreno Berti/Flickr
The sunniest city in our state is known for being the winter lettuce capital for a reason: its mild winter temperatures, sunny days, and no snow make for perfect winter crop conditions. However, that wasn’t the case in 1932 when the city 1.5 inches on December 12 of that year!
Broderick Delaney/Flickr
It’s not uncommon to see the mountains surrounding Phoenix covered in a bit of snow, like the Superstition Mountains seen here. But snow in the city of Phoenix? It’s happened before and the most recorded was one inch on January 21, 1937. Other parts of the Valley saw slightly more snow that same day, some reporting up to four inches!
Fireground/Flickr
Arizona’s biggest snowstorm took place during the Christmas of 1967, an event many Arizonans were completely unprepared for. Some areas, like Greer, saw more than 8 feet of snow or more, covering houses and leaving people barricaded in their homes for days. However, it was people located in rural areas who were affected the most dramatically by the storm and emergency supplies needed to be delivered by helicopter.
You can read more about the event in one of our previous articles.
teakay/Flickr
Seeing snow in the desert is a rare sight and Tucson found itself transformed into a winter wonderland in 1971. On December 8 that year, nearly 7 inches of snow fell in the city and even caused the airport to cancel flights since it did not own a snow plow.
Another dramatic snow storm that took Arizona by surprise occurred in January 2010 and its snow depths rivaled those recorded back in 1967. Places like Flagstaff received around 6 feet of snow in a short time period and a state of emergency was declared to assist those in rural areas.
You can read more about the event in one of our previous articles.
Want to make the most of your winter? Check out 9 Easy Hikes You Can Enjoy In Arizona This Winter for some trails to enjoy the weather.
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article.
The OIYS Visitor Center
Winter Storms in Arizona September 27, 2021 Tori Jane Does it snow in Arizona? It sure does! Believe it or not, Arizona is not a desert through and through. In fact, there’s a little bit of almost everything here, except maybe tundra – it doesn’t get cold enough for that. But it does get cold enough for snow in much of the higher elevations all over the state. The town of Flagstaff is the place with the highest population that regularly sees snowy winters; some years even set records (the most recent of which was set in 2019, when an impressive 35+ inches of snow blanketed the area. You can also find snow in places like Sedona and the Grand Canyon, especially after larger-scale winter storms. If you climb to the top of Mount Lemmon in southern Arizona, you’ll be able to find snow there as well during the coldest months of the year (namely January and February). Even Phoenix, as hot as it is most of the time, has seen a couple of snowy days throughout history. It’s not common for it to snow there, so when it does, it’s kind of a holiday among Phoenicians who rarely ever see it. Have there been any natural disasters in Arizona? Of course. Though Arizona is a state that’s relatively “safe” from the vast majority of large-scale disasters, it does have some of its own that occur every so often. Perhaps most commonly, Arizona sees major wildfires during the summer months, when things are at their driest and vacation season (which comes with campfires) are at their highest. However, on occasion there have been some major floods that drowned even metropolitan areas in a couple of feet of water – flash flooding is among the most common Arizona disasters. Of course, every so often, Arizona sees a highly unusual natural disaster event, like the tornado outbreak which affected northern Arizona in October 2010. The strongest tornadoes in that now-infamous outbreak were rated EF3s, which is a significantly powerful and dangerous storm. Read more about some of Arizona’s more intense disasters here.
The OIYS Visitor Center
Winter Storms in Arizona
September 27, 2021
Tori Jane
Does it snow in Arizona? It sure does! Believe it or not, Arizona is not a desert through and through. In fact, there’s a little bit of almost everything here, except maybe tundra – it doesn’t get cold enough for that. But it does get cold enough for snow in much of the higher elevations all over the state. The town of Flagstaff is the place with the highest population that regularly sees snowy winters; some years even set records (the most recent of which was set in 2019, when an impressive 35+ inches of snow blanketed the area. You can also find snow in places like Sedona and the Grand Canyon, especially after larger-scale winter storms. If you climb to the top of Mount Lemmon in southern Arizona, you’ll be able to find snow there as well during the coldest months of the year (namely January and February). Even Phoenix, as hot as it is most of the time, has seen a couple of snowy days throughout history. It’s not common for it to snow there, so when it does, it’s kind of a holiday among Phoenicians who rarely ever see it. Have there been any natural disasters in Arizona? Of course. Though Arizona is a state that’s relatively “safe” from the vast majority of large-scale disasters, it does have some of its own that occur every so often. Perhaps most commonly, Arizona sees major wildfires during the summer months, when things are at their driest and vacation season (which comes with campfires) are at their highest. However, on occasion there have been some major floods that drowned even metropolitan areas in a couple of feet of water – flash flooding is among the most common Arizona disasters. Of course, every so often, Arizona sees a highly unusual natural disaster event, like the tornado outbreak which affected northern Arizona in October 2010. The strongest tornadoes in that now-infamous outbreak were rated EF3s, which is a significantly powerful and dangerous storm. Read more about some of Arizona’s more intense disasters here.
The OIYS Visitor Center
The OIYS Visitor Center
It sure does! Believe it or not, Arizona is not a desert through and through. In fact, there’s a little bit of almost everything here, except maybe tundra – it doesn’t get cold enough for that. But it does get cold enough for snow in much of the higher elevations all over the state. The town of Flagstaff is the place with the highest population that regularly sees snowy winters; some years even set records (the most recent of which was set in 2019, when an impressive 35+ inches of snow blanketed the area. You can also find snow in places like Sedona and the Grand Canyon, especially after larger-scale winter storms. If you climb to the top of Mount Lemmon in southern Arizona, you’ll be able to find snow there as well during the coldest months of the year (namely January and February). Even Phoenix, as hot as it is most of the time, has seen a couple of snowy days throughout history. It’s not common for it to snow there, so when it does, it’s kind of a holiday among Phoenicians who rarely ever see it.
Have there been any natural disasters in Arizona?
Of course. Though Arizona is a state that’s relatively “safe” from the vast majority of large-scale disasters, it does have some of its own that occur every so often. Perhaps most commonly, Arizona sees major wildfires during the summer months, when things are at their driest and vacation season (which comes with campfires) are at their highest. However, on occasion there have been some major floods that drowned even metropolitan areas in a couple of feet of water – flash flooding is among the most common Arizona disasters. Of course, every so often, Arizona sees a highly unusual natural disaster event, like the tornado outbreak which affected northern Arizona in October 2010. The strongest tornadoes in that now-infamous outbreak were rated EF3s, which is a significantly powerful and dangerous storm. Read more about some of Arizona’s more intense disasters here.
