Record-breaking Snow Year Impacts Northern Arizona

Taylor McCormick May 25, 2023

Students with sleds walk in front of Reilly Hall after school was cancelled for several feet of snow, Feb. 23, 2022. Taylor McCormick/The Lumberjack

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- A record-breaking amount of snowfall at 162.6 inches has been recorded at the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport from July 2022 until now. However, lives were on pause due to the towering piles of powder.

Residents have been stuck inside their houses because of a delay in road clearings from the continuous snow. Those who are able to free their cars are met with little traction from the ice and even got stuck on the side of the road, including Interstate 17. Eventually, highways such as U.S. 180 and Interstate 40 had to be temporarily shut down due to the bad weather conditions making it next to impossible to drive through. 

Both the Flagstaff Police Department and NAUPD responded to distress calls from residents and students stuck in the snow, showcasing its severity. NAU junior Denise Jimenez shared her own experiences dealing with the snow and receiving help from NAUPD and students.

“My car got stuck four times and all but one of them was on campus,” said Jimenez. “It’s very frustrating because NAU does not clear the streets while it’s snowing so most of the time it turns icy. Because the cars had made tracks during the storm, it created icy potholes that made it impossible for people to drive on some parts of campus.” 

She had to be pulled out with assistance from NAUPD for upwards of 40 minutes due to the hills and dips in the roads on campus. Pairing that with the uncleared roads and ice patches extended her time being stuck.

These storms helped break NAU’s record snow days and class cancellations as a result. Learning was impacted with cancellations, including online classes, taking place. Many professors had to modify their syllabi and remove assignments in order to stay on track for the rest of the semester.

Ice resulting from the snow on stretches of road on the I-17 led to potholes for about 20 miles with several signs warning drivers of rough roads ahead. The speed limit was reduced to 65 mph. Driving is not the only mode of transportation that requires the roads to be cleared, as Flagstaff’s airport faced flight cancelations.

“Our operations teams work tirelessly to ensure the runway is clear of snow,” said Flagstaff Pulliam Airport’s Communications Manager Claire Harper. “Ultimately the airlines make the decision to cancel flights due to low visibility issues that arise during inclement weather.”

These ice covered runways and roads impact residents, students and especially employees, from leaving their homes and arriving at work.

“I know about 20 students who got affected by the snow,” said Jimenez. “Most of them couldn’t drive to work because their cars wouldn’t make it on the icy roads.”

The heavy snow poses more life-threatening risks, as seen in states such as Californian and Utah. Carbon monoxide build up from heavy snowfall blocking air vents in homes can lead to poisoning, especially with delayed snow clearing from the city. 

When driving during these storm conditions, the National Weather Service recommends clearing snow from the exhaust pipe and opening the windows when running the motor to avoid monoxide poisoning.

NAU’s Water Resource Geography Professor Denielle Perry made note of the connection between the increased snowfall transitioning into rain. 

“Because of climate change, we are experiencing what we call rain-on-snow events,” Perry said. “So we get a whole lot of snow and then a warm system comes through and instead of coming in the form of snow, the precipitation comes in the form of rain. When the rain falls on the snow, it melts the snow and then you get a really fast runoff of that melted snow combined with the rain that just came so you have these flooding events.”

The sign for the Raul H. Castro Social and Behavioral Sciences Building after a snow storm, Feb. 25, 2022. Taylor McCormick/The Lumberjack

This leftover rain turned into flood water, which NAU’s current infrastructure is unable to handle as seen with the evacuation of several buildings and on-campus dorms being evacuated on March 22 for up to seven hours due to the odor the water had caused in utility tunnels of said buildings. 

This calls for a reconsideration of infrastructure durability, especially in regard to NAU. In buildings all across campus, ceiling tiles are beginning to cave in from the flood water, such as in the Raul H. Castro Social and Behavioral Sciences building.

However, due to heavy snow and flooding in the first half of March, Flagstaff houses and businesses roofs began collapsing, such as Doug Gray’s Continental Country Club home and Northern Arizona Riding Stables’ barns. 

“Rain-on-snow can be incredibly harmful to the built environment,” Perry said. “Our infrastructure is not designed to handle that amount of water on a regular basis.”

In addition to Perry’s sentiments on our infrastructure and personal anecdotes from students, Meteorologist-in-Chief for Flagstaff’s Weather Service Brian Klimowski touches on the city’s roads.

“The melting snow could and has had impacts, we had all the flooding last week from that very large storm we had,” Klimowski said. “The negative aspects might be the continued threat of flooding as we move through the spring and melt this snow back. The roads in the area have taken a beating this year from the moisture and freeze-thaw we have seen throughout the winter.”

However, despite the negative effects faced by students and infrastructure, the environment will improve as a result of the increased water readily available.

“The amount of precipitation and snowfall will do a number of things for us,” Klimowski said.  “It will help to replenish water, relieve the drought, really bring some rejuvenating moisture back to our little part of the country which has been so dry for so long. All this moisture will delay the traditional start of our fire season and hopefully shorten our fire season this upcoming year.”

While the snow storms appear to be at their end, with the last snowfall being April 4, Klimowski would be unsurprised if we had one last precipitation event to wrap up the season. Remaining aware of the weather forecasts can help prevent any surprise storms from creeping up, which is essential for this year’s record-breaking snow.