FLOA Weather Page

Forest Lakes Owners Association

2008-2009 Weather Board!

Weather Report – Thursday April 16th, 2009 7:45 a.m.

Some late winter weather did finally catch up with us yesterday. The morning was blustery and cold with heavy clouds. By about noontime the winds increased and it started to snow lightly. By 2 in the afternoon we had high winds gusting to 40 miles an hour and heavy snow. For the next few hours we had on and off whiteout conditions. It finally tapered off around 6 o’clock yesterday evening and left us with about 2 inches of snow on the ground. The snow covered the forest floor, the roads and driveways with light loading on the trees. This morning most of the snow is still here as the temperature got down to 16 degrees last night. We currently have hazy sunshine, no wind and a temperature of 27 degrees. This was a bit of a surprise for mid April, but certainly not unheard of in Forest Lakes. With the sun and warming temperatures most of the snow will probably be gone by this evening.

If you wish to contact us, you may e-mail us at kcsvs@frontiernet.net or by phone at 928-535-3361. …..Please note: e-mails sometimes reach us many hours after you send them. If you need current information to make travel plans, please don’t hesitate to call on the phone and leave a message. We will return your call.

Weather Report – Sunday April 12, 2009 6:30 p.m.

Wanted to update you on our little storm that went through in the last couple of days. If you were watching TV you saw that Flagstaff and Pinetop both received at least 4 inches. Forest Lakes on the other hand did not receive any where near 4 inches. The snow started Friday night and by Saturday morning the ground was lightly coated with nothing on the road or driveway. It continued to snow all day Saturday, but by evening we had no further accumulation. The snow continued into Saturday night, but by Sunday morning the interior roads were a little muddy and there was light coating on the trees and the forest floor. None of that snow is left on the ground right now and the roads are basically dry. Today has been bright and sunny with the temperature ranging in the low 50s. Current temperature is 45. No wind, no snow on the ground, no snow on the trees, just a nice spring day in Forest Lakes. Highway 260 is fine, mostly dry and we had no problem driving to Payson this morning. Hope you all had a Happy Easter.

Weather Report – Friday March 27, 2009 7:30 a.m.

Just a quick update to let everyone know that the weather that was in the valley yesterday did not affect Forest Lakes. The wind was not much more than a heavy breeze and we had a couple of hours of very light snow in the afternoon which did not stay on the ground. The wind last Sunday was much worse than what we had yesterday. Most of the snow that we had from the heavy snow storms last month is gone. About the only thing left are the berms on the shady side of the road, and whatever slid from the roofs. Today is bright and sunny but cold. It was down to 16 degrees last night and is now up to about 19. There is not enough snow anywhere for any kind of snow sports. Since our last major storm in February there have been a few flurries, but it has been mostly clear with daytime temperatures in the 40s and ranging up to the 60s at times. The interior roads are all clear and getting dusty. Highway 260 has been clear for several weeks.

Weather Report – Tuesday February 17th, 2009, 10:45 a.m.

That big storm that hit California and was supposed to dump a bunch of snow in Northern Arizona really didn’t do much to add to our snow pack. By the time it got here it was pretty well broken up and most of it went north of us. It started snowing lightly around 2 a.m. and by the time I checked this morning at around 8 a.m. we had 3 to 3 ½ inches on the ground. By 9 a.m. the clouds were breaking up and now we have mostly sunshine with just a few clouds. I think it would be generous to say we had a total of 4 inches. The trees are lightly loaded and the wind is now shaking the snow off the branches. The temperature is 37 degrees. The interior roads are passable and we have no information on 260. The weather service indicates we should have good weather with a slight warming trend into next weekend.

Weather Report – Update Tuesday February 10th, 2009, 12:30 p.m.

Just wanted to let you know that the power came back on at 11:30 this morning. We are seeing frequent breaks in the overcast and light snow showers are continuing. The wind is breezy with occasional gusts. The temperature is 30 degrees. Our driveway has been plowed again but so far we have not seen the snowplow go down the road so we will not be venturing out until he comes by. We checked the ADOT site and they are no longer showing the closure on 260, but most of the roads in the area are being reported as icy and many are requiring chains or 4 wheel drive.

Weather Report – Tuesday February 10th, 2009, 10:00a.m.

If you have been watching the news this morning you can see how hard we got hit yesterday afternoon and last night. We have to estimate the snow because we have no way to measure it due to heavy drifting. It looks to be between 20 and 24 inches of new snow. We did see a little blue sky earlier this morning, but the overcast has closed in and we are having on and off snow showers. It is supposed to clear this afternoon and we should see plenty of sunshine tomorrow. The trees are heavily loaded and the current temperature is 21 degrees. No wind to speak of at this time. Our driveway was cleared about 8 o’clock last night but is now impassable again and will have to be redone. Although we are looking forward to the clearing the cold temperatures will prevent any significant melting. New storms are due in Thursday and then through the weekend. With indications of at least one more strong storm. This storm affected the entire rim area with heavy snow all the way to Show Low. We were told this morning that highway 260 is closed and we have not heard any word that it is open yet. The interior roads which have not been plowed look to be impassable at this time. Our power went out again around 7 a.m. and APS indicates the problem will not be fixed for several hours so we are back on the generator. Hopefully we can get to Heber tomorrow because our generator fuel is starting to run low.

Weather Report – Monday February 9th, 2009, 10:15 a.m.

Snow continued on and off all day yesterday through last night and into this morning. I tried to measure what was on the ground so far from this storm, but the frequent windy conditions have made measurement difficult. Right now we have between 8 and 12 inches on our driveway. Yesterday we had some heavy snow and frequent whiteouts. This morning we have seen some breaks in the overcast, but they have been few and far between. It is still breezy which has kept the trees from being heavily loaded. The temperature is 29 degrees. The snowplow went through late yesterday and there are a few cars cruising around on the interior roads. The power went off all over the subdivision yesterday around 10:15 in the morning. We put our generator on around noon and used it constantly until the power finally came back on around 10:30 last night. APS indicated that the power outages were widespread and that several main lines had gone down. The weather service indicates another strong storm is due late this afternoon and through tonite with a potential of 10 to 16 more inches of snow.

Weather Report – Sunday February 8, 2009, 12 noon

Our report is a little late today because our power went off this morning and has not returned. We finally got our generator out and that is what we are running on right now. It started to snow early this morning and by 8 a.m. we had about 5 inches of new snow. It has snowed almost continually on and off since then, so I am sure we have added at least another inch. Just as we started this report it has started to snow heavily, so I am sure we will end up with a few more inches before this storm passes through. Weather service indicates a brief lull and a new storm moving in sometime tomorrow. Right now we have heavy snow with a light breeze. The temperature is 30 degrees. We can’t see much farther than the end of our driveway. No sign of a snowplow yet, but we have seen some 4 wheel drive cars going up and down West Loop. We have no information on highway 260, but with the heavy snow and the poor visibility the driving must be treacherous at this time. Just a few moments ago the wind came up and we are starting to see some drifting. In our January 27^th report we passed along what we thought was reliable information that the county would be mailing out letters to all residents indicating street name and address changes. So far we have not received any information so we are not sure when the county intends to mail the letters.

Weather Report – Tuesday January 27, 2009, 9:30 a.m.

There is very little to report in the way of weather. The snow storm that was supposed to happen last week turned to be some very light rain for 2 or 3 days. Then it got very windy with no precipitation and yesterday’s storm produced a very slight amount of snow. Most of it was water by the time it hit the ground. We have had nothing that would add to our snowpack which has now melted down significantly. The average height is probably a foot or less and we can see large bare patches appearing under the trees. The interior roads are in good shape, a little muddy in spots and the berms are still 3 to 4 feet high and solid ice. Last night the temperature dropped to 12 degrees, but the weather service indicates a slow warming trend with no precipitation through next weekend. The sky is partly cloudy with a few snowflakes now and then. There is no wind and the current temperature is 23 degrees. The only problem you may still encounter on highway 260 is the snow melt across the road which is icy during our current low temperatures. For those of you who are interested, there is still no word on our missing resident. The large scale search ended about a week ago and we have heard nothing since. Also of interest – we have heard that residents will start receiving letters from the county this week informing them of their street name and address changes.

Weather Report – Thursday January 22, 2009, 9:45 a.m.

Since our last report on January 5^th we have had very good weather in Forest Lakes. Skies were clear, not much wind, daytime highs were in the 50s and lows were in the 20s and 30s. Our snowpack has been slowly melting during that time, but we still have about 95 percent coverage. Snow depths are variable depending on the amount of shade in any specific location. We have at least one foot and up to two feet still on the ground. It was a good thing that the weather remained good because the last couple of weeks our computer has been in the shop for repair. Our latest storm started late last night, but so far it has been light rain. The weather service indicates that we will have unsettled weather into the early part of next week. There is only a slight hope for snow. That means slushy roads and lots of mud. Also the temperatures are supposed to remain on the high side so that will further erode our snowpack. Right now we have light rain with a temperature of 40 degrees and no wind. The night time temperatures are forecast to be in the 20s and 30s, which will give us a coating of ice over the snow. This could make for some treacherous driving.

Weather Report – Monday January 5, 2009, 8:45 a.m.

It snowed all day yesterday, mostly moderate, but heavy at times. It slowed down considerably after dark, but continued on and off until around midnight. We have about 7 inches of new snow from this storm. The trees are loaded but not heavily and the wind is calm. The temperature went down to about 18 last night and is currently 23 degrees. It is still overcast but we are seeing signs that the sun is trying to break through. We haven’t heard of any reports on highway 260. West Loop has yet to be plowed this morning although it was plowed late last night.

Weather Report – Friday January 2, 2009, 12 noon

This last week was great. We had sunny days in the 50s and 60s and cool nights down in the 20s and 30s. Our snowpack is still quite substantial, but we did get quite a bit of melting. Last night however, we got back into a winter pattern. It snowed lightly most of the night and we had about an inch of new snow this morning. We had a slight break and it is now snowing again at a moderate rate. We have probably added another inch with this morning’s snow. It doesn’t look like it is going to let up anytime soon and the weather service indicates we could see another 5 to 8 inches today. There is no wind and the temperature has dropped from 32 this morning to 30 degrees. We haven’t heard of any problems on Highway 260 yet and although the snowplow has not been past our place we understand it is working in another area of the subdivision. So far the snow has been showery on and off and the trees are only holding a small amount. This storm is supposed to wind down tomorrow and put us back into sunny days into the middle of next week. It is nice to have a break once in awhile.

Weather Report – Friday December 26, 2008, 8:40 am

We had heavy snow last night along with high winds which drifted the snow. I checked the driveway this morning and it showed that we had at least 8 inches of new snow, but I suspect it might have been more. The early evening temperatures were quite warm. In fact, after sundown it went from 32 to 34 degrees. That doesn’t sound like much of a change, but it caused the foot and a half of snow on our roof to start sliding. The problem was that it did a very slow slide over a period of several hours. This dropped the snow straight off the eaves and built up a several foot berm on the west side of the house. Unfortunately there are two large unprotected windows on that wall and as the berm built up over the windows I kept shoveling to keep the larger chunks from rolling down the berm and into the windows. I had to continue periodic shoveling until about 2 o’clock this morning and the temperature finally dropped below freezing and stopped the sliding snow. This morning the berm is covering 2/3 of both windows. Luckily for us the main part of the storm is over. We are even starting to see the sun peeking through now and then. The weather service indicates we could get another 4 to 8 inches today, but it sure doesn’t look like it right now. The current temperature is 21 degrees. The wind is variable with occasional heavy gusts. No sign of the snowplow yet and we have no information on highway 260.

Weather Report – Thursday December 25, 2008, 10:45 am

Merry Christmas Everyone! We are having a very white Christmas in Forest Lakes. 6 inches of snow last night with much more to come. The trees are heavily loaded. The berms down on the road are growing. It is breezy and still snowing lightly on and off. The weather service indicates 4 to 8 inches today, 9 to 13 inches tonight and 3 to 5 inches Friday before this storm ends. The temperature is 32 degrees and has changed very little in the last couple of days. The interior roads are snowy, but passable. No information on highway 260, but we are sure that there are icy and snowy spots.

Weather Report – Tuesday December 23, 2008, 10:00 am

Yesterday was cold and windy with clouds getting thicker all day. At around 3 p.m. it started to snow lightly at first, but quickly turned in to a full blown blizzard. By 4 o’clock the snow was heavy and the wind was causing frequent white-out conditions. Our neighbors who came up around 7 p.m. said that from Christopher Creek to Forest Lakes, they frequently lost sight of the road. Thankfully they made it in without incident. The wind was so strong that very little snow settled on the highway. These conditions continued into early this morning, but it has stopped snowing and the wind is only occasionally gusty. The trees are pretty well loaded down and our guess is that we have between 8 to 12 inches of new snow. The weather service indicates that this storm is basically over and a new storm is expected Wednesday night with possibly more snow than we have received from this one. The coming storm will continue through Christmas and into Friday. Anyone looking for a white Christmas – come on up to Forest Lakes. We guarantee it! Haven’t seen the snowplow yet, but the roads look passable with 4wheeldrive. The current temperature is 29 degrees.