Heavy Snow in Arizona, December 4 to 5, 2001

Name: Heavy Snow in Arizona, December 4 to 5, 2001
Start: 2001-12-04T07:00
End: 2001-12-05T00:00
Location: Arizona

December 4 to 5, 2001 · NWS FGZ · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

A Pacific storm system moved across Arizona with widespread snowfall above 5500 feet. The heaviest snowfall amounts were on the Mogollon Rim mainly south and southeast of Flagstaff.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS FGZ wrote it up.

A Pacific storm system moved across Arizona with widespread snowfall above 5500 feet. The heaviest snowfall amounts were on the Mogollon Rim mainly south and southeast of Flagstaff. The greatest storm total amount was 13 inches in Happy Jack. Other amounts were: Bellemont, Flagstaff, Hart Prairie, and Christopher Creek each had 7 inches; Crown King 6 inches, Forest Lakes 5 inches, Munds Park 9 inches, Pine 6 inches, Mormon Lake 12 inches, and Strawberry 8 inches.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Flagstaff, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 4, 3:15 AM MST, 3 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 4, 3:15 AM MST, 3 hours 45 minutes before

NORTHERN ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
315 AM MST TUE DEC 04 2001

.SYNOPSIS...A PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING WIDESPREAD RAIN AND
SNOW TO MUCH OF NORTHERN ARIZONA TODAY AND TONIGHT. ACCUMULATING
SNOWS ARE LIKELY ABOVE 6000 FEET. PRECIPITATION WILL TAPER OFF TO
SCATTERED SHOWERS LATE TONIGHT THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. HIGH
PRESSURE WILL RETURN TO THE NORTHLAND THURSDAY...WITH DRY AND WARMER
CONDITIONS EXPECTED INTO NEXT WEEKEND.

.DISCUSSION...SYSTEM CONTINUES TO MOVE EASTWARD SLOWER THAN PREVIOUS
MODEL RUNS HAVE SUGGESTED. PCPN IS FINALLY BREAKING OUT THIS MORNING
OVER PORTIONS OF WESTERN AZ AND AREAL COVERAGE HAS EXPANDED
SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE PAST FEW HOURS. DIFFERENCES STILL REMAIN
BETWEEN THE AVN AND ETA WITH REGARDS TO PCPN AMOUNTS...OTHERWISE THE
MODELS ARE QUITE SIMILAR. BOTH SHOW MODERATE/STRONG DIVQ FORCING
MOVING ACROSS THE REGION TODAY ALONG WITH A MODERATE UPSLOPE
COMPONENT. LAPSE RATES START OUT FAIRLY STABLE THIS MORNING BUT
DESTABILIZE WITH THE SUSTAINED UPWARD FORCING DURING THE DAY. AVN
PRECIP AMOUNTS ARE FAIRLY CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS RUNS WHILE THE
ETA AMOUNTS HAVE GONE FROM VERY DRY TO VERY WET. GIVEN THE
INCONSISTENCY OF THE ETA...WILL USE THE AVN GUIDANCE FOR SNOW
AMOUNTS. NONETHELESS...WILL NEED TO CAREFULLY MONITOR THE SITUATION
SINCE EVEN THE DRIER AVN NUMBERS BUMP UP AGAINST SNOW ADVISORY
THRESHOLDS.

WITH A RAPIDLY BUILDING RIDGE OVER THE CENTRAL CONUS THE S/W TROUGH
QUICKLY DEAMPLIFIES AND ACCELERATES TO THE NORTHEAST TONIGHT. THUS
THE HEAVIEST PCPN AMOUNTS SHOULD FALL IN THE WESTERN ZONES THIS
AFTERNOON WITH MUCH LESSER AMOUNTS IN THE EAST TONIGHT. SOME
LINGERING SHOWERS ON WEDNESDAY ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE FAR EASTERN
ZONES AND WILL INCLUDE SOME LOW POPS. ELSEWHERE...EXPECT CLEARING
SKIES ON WEDNESDAY WITH NO PRECIP REMAINING ZONES.

IN THE EXTENDED...RIDGING DOMINATES THE SOUTHWEST AND TEMPERATURES
RETURN TO SEASONABLE LEVELS WITH JUST PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES.

DB

.FGZ...NONE.

.CODED TEMPERATURES/POPS FOR SELECTED CITIES IN NORTHERN ARIZONA

CITY             TEMPERATURES HI/LO           PROBABILITY OF PRECIP
                 TDY TON   WED     THU        TDY TON   WED   THU
FLAGSTAFF        037/015 041/017 048/018      080 050 000 000 000 000
WINSLOW          048/022 050/020 051/021      060 040 000 000 000 000
PRESCOTT         044/023 050/021 055/022      080 030 000 000 000 000
PAGE             047/032 047/030 047/031      080 030 000 000 000 000
WINDOW ROCK      042/018 040/017 047/018      060 060 030 000 000 000
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                  TEMPERATURES HI/LO
                  TDY TON     WED       THU
CANYON DE CHELLY  041/024   039/023   046/024
COTTONWOOD        051/028   057/026   062/027
GRAND CANYON      041/017   045/019   052/020
GREER             038/015   042/017   049/018
HEBER             047/018   054/019   054/019
JACOB LAKE        034/016   038/018   045/019
NAVAJO N.M.       037/024   035/023   042/024
PAYSON            053/020   058/021   058/021
SEDONA            049/030   055/028   060/029
SELIGMAN          045/017   051/015   056/016
SHOW LOW          040/021   044/023   051/024
ST. JOHNS         049/020   051/018   052/019
WUPATKI N.M.      049/026   051/024   052/025

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Western Mogollon Rim

When: December 4, 7:00 AM MST to December 5, 12:00 AM MST
Where: Western Mogollon Rim forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 35.839, -111.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Eastern Mogollon Rim

When: December 4, 7:00 AM MST to December 5, 12:00 AM MST
Where: Eastern Mogollon Rim forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 35.620, -111.045 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Yavapai County Mountains

When: December 4, 7:00 AM MST to 10:00 PM MST
Where: Yavapai County Mountains forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 34.600, -112.554 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Northern Gila County

When: December 4, 8:00 AM MST to December 5, 12:00 AM MST
Where: Northern Gila County forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 33.800, -110.812 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Arizona in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Arizona, December 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5273959, 5273960, 5273962, 5273961.