Winter Storm in Arizona, February 24 to 26, 2003

Name: Winter Storm in Arizona, February 24 to 26, 2003
Start: 2003-02-24T20:00
End: 2003-02-26T18:00
Location: Arizona

February 24 to 26, 2003 · NWS FGZ · 8 events in 8 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 8 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: 8

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 strong Pacific storm system moved across northern Arizona with widespread snow and rain. The greatest amounts of snow fell at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Eastern Mogollon Rim, Northern Gila County, and the White Mountains. Some of the lower elevations picked up more than an inch and a half of rain. Some of the storm total snowfall amounts were: Greer 20 inches, Forest Lakes 16 inches, Christopher Creek 14 inches, Pinetop and Alpine 12 inches, Happy Jack, Crown King, and Kachina Village all had 10 inches, Grand Canyon-North Rim 9 inches and Munds Park 9 inches, and Bagdad 5 inches.Heavy snow caused pine trees to fall over power and phone lines in the Ponderosa Park area south of Prescott. Over 800 customers were without power. Thousands of pine trees fell along Highway 260 between Heber, Forest Lakes, and Christopher Creek and along Highway 87 between Pine and Clint's Well. Hundreds of trees also fell along Lake Mary Road between Clint's Well and Happy Jack. Some of the trees were up to 6 inches in diameter where they snapped in half.

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 Feb 24, 2:30 PM MST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 24, 2:30 PM MST, 5 hours 30 minutes before

NORTHERN ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
230 PM MST MON FEB 24 2003

.SYNOPSIS...A STRONG PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE STATE
BY EARLY TUESDAY BRINGING WIDESPREAD RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW TO THE
REGION THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATING SNOWS ARE
EXPECTED ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA ABOVE 6000 FEET BY WEDNESDAY
MORNING. COLD CONDITIONS WITH ON AND OFF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL
THEN CONTINUE THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK...WITH LESSER
ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED. TEMPERATURES THIS WEEK WILL BE BELOW
NORMAL.

.DISCUSSION...UPPER LOW STILL MOVING SOUTH-SOUTHEAST ALONG THE
CALIFORNIA COAST...LOOKS LIKE IT WILL WIND UP EVEN FARTHER SOUTH AND
WEST THAN THE 12Z MODELS. THIS IS A DISTURBING TREND AS THE STORM
KEEP GETTING PUSHED OFF A FEW HOURS EACH SHIFT...HOPEFULLY IT WILL
NOT GO TOO FAR SOUTH AS WELL. GOING WITH THE AVN TRENDS...WE STILL
EXPECT A SIGNIFICANT PRECIPITATION EVENT BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. WE HAVE UPGRADED THE WATCH TO A WARNING ABOVE 6000 FEET
FROM THE KAIBAB PLATEAU ALL THE WAY SOUTHEAST TO THE WHITE
MOUNTAINS. EXPECTING AS MUCH AS 20 INCHES IN THE FAVORED AREAS PER
AVN/ETA QPF GRIDS. ENHANCING PRECIPITATION POTENTIAL WILL BE STRONG
UPSLOPE FLOW THROUGH THE DAY TUESDAY...AS WELL AS A DEEP AND
UNSTABLE SATURATED LAYER. PRECIPITATION WILL SLOWLY WIND DOWN
TUESDAY NIGHT AS THE LOW MOVES TO THE NORTHEAST. HOWEVER...A COLD
AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS WITH PLENTY OF MOISTURE WILL RESIDE IN THE
BOTTOM OF THE MEAN TROUGH OVER ARIZONA THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK.
SEVERAL WAVES WILL PASS THROUGH THE TROUGH...WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF
A RATHER SIGNIFICANT WAVE THURSDAY. THIS WILL BRING HIGH CHANCE TO
LIKELY CATEGORY RAIN AND SNOW THROUGH MUCH OF THE FORECAST PERIOD.
ONLY BY DAYS SIX AND SEVEN DO WE POTENTIALLY GET INTO A DRIER
NORTHWEST FLOW AS RIDGING PUSHES INTO THE WEST COAST. WILL END
CHANCES SATURDAY...WITH PARTLY CLOUDY AND SLIGHTLY WARMER CONDITIONS
SUNDAY AND MONDAY. PETERSON.

FGZ...WINTER STORM WARNING ABOVE 6000 FEET TUES AND TUES NIGHT ZONES
      4/6/7/8/15>18/38.

.CODED TEMPERATURES/POPS FOR SELECTED CITIES IN NORTHERN ARIZONA

CITY             TEMPERATURES LO/HI           PROBABILITY OF PRECIP
                 TON TUE   WED     THU        TON TUE   WED     THU
FLAGSTAFF        030/035 027/034 023/035      060 100 090 070 060 070
WINSLOW          038/048 035/044 029/043      030 080 080 050 030 050
PRESCOTT         037/043 032/043 029/044      060 100 080 060 040 050
PAGE             040/047 036/045 033/044      040 080 080 060 040 060
WINDOW ROCK      030/037 028/036 022/036      020 090 090 060 050 060
CANYON DE CHELLY 037/042 035/041 029/041      020 080 080 060 050 060
COTTONWOOD       044/053 039/053 036/054      060 100 080 060 040 050
GRAND CANYON     032/038 029/037 025/038      070 100 090 070 060 070
GREER            029/035 026/034 022/035      030 100 090 070 050 060
HEBER            032/042 029/041 025/042      040 100 090 060 050 060
JACOB LAKE       030/032 027/031 023/032      070 100 090 070 060 070
NAVAJO N.M.      035/034 033/033 027/033      030 090 090 070 060 070
PAYSON           038/046 033/046 030/047      030 100 090 060 040 050
SEDONA           044/049 039/049 036/050      060 100 080 060 040 050
SELIGMAN         031/044 026/044 023/045      070 100 090 070 060 070
SHOW LOW         037/044 034/043 030/044      030 100 090 070 050 060
ST. JOHNS        036/048 033/044 027/043      020 090 080 050 030 050
WUPATKI N.M.     042/050 039/046 033/045      040 090 080 050 030 050

Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 24, 6:10 AM MST, 13 hours 50 minutes before

AZZ004>018-037>040-250200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
610 AM MST MON FEB 24 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR APACHE...COCONINO...NORTHERN
GILA...NAVAJO...AND YAVAPAI COUNTIES IN NORTHERN ARIZONA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

 A POWERFUL WINTER STORM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS NORTHERN ARIZONA
 TUESDAY. A WINTER STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR TUESDAY AND TUESDAY
 NIGHT FOR AREAS ABOVE 6000 FEET SOUTH OF A LINE FROM FREDONIA TO ST
 JOHNS. BETWEEN 12 AND 24 INCHES OF NEW SNOW ARE EXPECTED BY SUNRISE
 WEDNESDAY MORNING...WITH THE HEAVIEST AMOUNTS ALONG THE MOGOLLON
 RIM AND WHITE MOUNTAINS.

 THE WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO BE COOL AND UNSETTLED WEDNESDAY THROUGH
 SUNDAY...WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF A SECOND STORM SYSTEM CROSSING
 NORTHERN ARIZONA THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.

DEFINITION OF HAZARDOUS WEATHER...A WEATHER EVENT POSING A THREAT
TO LIFE AND PROPERTY.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Grand Canyon Country

When: February 24, 8:00 PM MST to February 26, 8:00 AM MST
Where: Grand Canyon Country forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 35.839, -111.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Coconino Plateau

When: February 24, 8:00 PM MST to February 26, 8:00 AM MST
Where: Coconino Plateau forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 35.839, -111.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Yavapai County Mountains

When: February 24, 8:00 PM MST to February 26, 8:00 AM 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)

Winter Storm, Western Mogollon Rim

When: February 24, 8:00 PM MST to February 26, 9:00 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)

Winter Storm, Oak Creek and Sycamore Canyons

When: February 24, 8:00 PM MST to February 26, 6:00 PM MST
Where: Oak Creek and Sycamore Canyons forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 35.220, -112.162 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Northern Gila County

When: February 24, 10:00 PM MST to February 26, 6:00 PM 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)

Winter Storm, White Mountains

When: February 24, 11:00 PM MST to February 26, 6:00 PM MST
Where: White Mountains forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 35.398, -109.905 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Mogollon Rim

When: February 25, 2:00 AM MST to February 26, 6:00 PM 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)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Arizona in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Arizona, February 2003

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: 5343380, 5343381, 5343382, 5343383, 5343387, 5343386, 5343385, 5343384.