Arizona's dry start to winter impacts much more than ski season
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - This winter is starting off as one of the driest on record in Arizona. In Flagstaff, conditions are making for the seventh-driest start of winter on record, dating back about 125 years.
We took a deeper look into whether the weather is likely to right itself.
The National Weather Service in Flagstaff says the implications of this dry weather stretch past ski season.
This has not been normal
Meteorologists with the NWS say this winter has not been normal when it comes to precipitation, especially snowfall.
Megan Taylor, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with NWS Flagstaff, has more on the numbers.
"Usually through early January, we would've seen about three feet of snow," she said. "In the Flagstaff area, we've actually seen a little less than three inches."
The lack of snowpack has implications that could trickle into the summer months.
"The forecasts just issued today are calling for 30-50% of water supply throughout the winter and spring months. So (there's) definitely an impact to the water supply. If we continue to see this lack of snowpack and little in the way of cool-season moisture, it will definitely have an impact to fire season," she said.
So, what conditions could right this deficit?
"It would take well above normal snowfall in both February and March to even try to get close to normal snowpack up here, which isn't looking likely," Taylor says.
Angie Grubb, who works for Arizona Snowbowl, says skiers and snowboarders can enjoy winter recreation regardless of natural snowfall totals.
However, they just have to rely on man-made snow.
"What is coming out of those snow-making machines is essentially just frozen water, just as natural snowfall is," Grubb said.
She is holding out hope - based on last season - that more snowfall is on the way.
"Last season we actually received a big amount of our snowfall right in the last weekend of April, which allowed us to extend our season, staying open all the way until June 1st last year," she said.
The good news is that the National Weather Service has seen dry winters like this before and Taylor says it is very rare for water restrictions to be put in place.