A deep low pressure system moved across the state and brought locally heavy snow to the higher elevations.
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.
The episode as NWS PSR wrote it up.
A deep low pressure system moved across the state and brought locally heavy snow to the higher elevations.
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 Phoenix, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 9, 9:00 PM MST, 4 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ 900 PM MST MON FEB 9 2009 .SYNOPSIS... A WEATHER SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE REGION TODAY AND TUESDAY ...BRINGING MORE RAIN AND SNOW WITH COLDER TEMPERATURES. THERE WILL BE A BRIEF RESPITE FROM THE RAIN MIDWEEK...FOLLOWED BY MORE WET AND UNSETTLED WEATHER DURING THE UPCOMING WEEKEND AND INTO NEXT WEEK. && .DISCUSSION... NOTE...PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN ARE LIKELY IN SOUTH CENTRAL AZ... INCLUDING THE PHOENIX AREA THROUGH MIDNIGHT (07Z TUE). SNOW LEVEL AT 830 PM LOCAL WAS NEAR 5 THSD FEET...BUT SHOULD LOWER TO NEAR 3500 FEET AFTER MIDNIGHT. IN THE MOUNTAIN AREAS OF SOUTH CENTRAL AZ... INCLUDING GLOBE MIAMI...HEAVY RAIN IS POSSIBLE BELOW 5000 FEET THROUGH MIDNIGHT...WITH LOCAL FLOODING. AGAIN...THE SNOW LEVEL SHOULD LOWER IN SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY RAPIDLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. OTHERWISE...A POWERFUL WINTER STORM WAS SLOWLY MOVING THROUGH THE REGION THIS EVENING 03Z TUE. THE STRONGEST DYNAMICS AND VERY COLD AIR ALOFT WAS DETECTED OVER SOUTHEAST CA AT 00Z...BUT MOVING STEADILY EAST. ALTHOUGH SHOWERS WERE BEGINNING TO DISSIPATE OR LIGHTEN UP OVER THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA (SOUTHEAST CA AND SOUTHWEST AZ)...A PLUME OF DEEP MOISTURE... STRONG LOW LEVEL SOUTHWEST UPSLOPE WINDS...AND UPPER LEVEL STORM DYNAMICS...WILL COMBINED TO GIVE PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN OVER SOUTH CENTRAL AZ THROUGH MIDNIGHT (I.E. IN AND AROUND THE GREATER PHOENIX AREA AND ESPECIALLY THE NEARBY FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAINS. THIS ALSO INCLUDES SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY AROUND LAKE ROOSEVELT AND GLOBE MIAMI). AS VERY COLD AIR ALOFT WITH THE STORM CENTER WORKS ITS WAY EAST JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT...RAIN POTENTIAL IN SOUTH CENTRAL AZ SHOULD LESSEN... WITH SNOW LEVELS RAPIDLY FALLING TO NEAR 3500 FEET. THE HEAVY SNOW POTENTIAL IN THE UPSLOPE AREAS OF SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY...WHERE A WINTER STORM WARNING IS POSTED...STILL LOOKS GOOD. A FEW UPDATES WERE MADE TO THE SOUTH CENTRAL AZ ZONES TO REFLECT HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL ALONG WITH A FEW THUNDERSTORMS. OTHERWISE REMAINDER OF FORECASTS LOOK OK...INCLUDING A RAPID END TO SHOWERS ALL ZONES TUESDAY MORNING/EARLY AFTERNOON. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION BELOW STILL APPLIES. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... THE ACTIVE WEATHER PERIOD THAT STARTED A FEW DAYS AGO CONTINUES WITH ANOTHER TROUGH SET TO PASS BY ARIZONA THIS EVENING. GFS AND UKMET ARE IN AGREEMENT WITH THE AXIS OF THIS VIGOROUS TROUGH QUICKLY TRANSITING THE STATE BY TUES MORN (12Z). THIS WILL BRING STRONG NW FLOW WITH A 120 KT JET OVER THE STATE. NEXT BIG SYSTEM WILL BE ANOTHER TROUGH BY END OF WEEK. GFS IS MORE PROGRESSIVE...PASSING IT QUICKLY OVER THE REGION...WHEREAS THE UKMET IS SLOWER AND MORE PRONOUNCED. FOR THE TIME BEING WILL STEER A MIDDLE COURSE WITH THIS. YET ANOTHER STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS FCST TO DROP INTO OUR REGION BY BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK. SNOW LEVELS WILL START HIGH ABOUT 4500-5000 FT TONIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS SUCH AS GILA COUNTY BUT WILL BE LOWERING PROGRESSIVELY THROUGH THE NIGHT AS THE COLD AIR CONTINUES TO DROP INTO THE REGION. LEVELS COULD BE AS LOW AS 2500 BY DAWN TUESDAY. STRONG WEST WINDS CONTINUE ACROSS IMPERIAL COUNTY WITH MANY READINGS IN THE 30-40 KT RANGE. WINDS SHOULD DROP BELOW ADVISORY LEVEL BY SUNDOWN. PATTERN WILL REMAIN ACTIVE THROUGH THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE...WITH SEVERAL EMBEDDED WAVES IN THE LONGWAVE TROUGH PATTERN CONTINUING TO AFFECT THE SOUTHWEST U.S. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN WELL BELOW SEASONAL NORMALS...WITH SOME DAYS STRUGGLING TO GET OUT OF THE 50S FOR HIGHS. IT APPEARS PRECIP CHANCES SHOULD BE MINIMAL FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK THROUGH FRIDAY...AS MODELS SHOW NEXT WAVE PASSING JUST TO THE NORTH...MAINLY AFFECTING NORTHERN AZ. BY THE WEEKEND...ANOTHER STRONG SYSTEM IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP OVER THE SOUTHWEST CONUS...WITH COOLER TEMPERATURES AND INCREASED CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION. STILL TOO FAR OUT TO HAMMER OUT THE DETAILS. && .AVIATION... LINE OF HEAVY RAIN MOVING THROUGH THE PHOENIX AREA WILL TEMPORARILY REDUCE CIGS/VSBYS INTO THE MVFR CATEGORY. AFTER THE LINE MOVES THROUGH...VSBYS WILL IMPROVE BUT CIGS WILL OCCASIONALLY DROP TO AROUND 3K FT IN LIGHT RAIN THROUGH ABOUT 10Z. SOME STRONG WINDS...POSSIBLY GUSTING TO AROUND 30 KT (OUT OF THE WEST) MAY ACCOMPANY THIS ACTIVITY THROUGH 06Z. IMPROVING CONDITIONS EXPECTED AFTER 12Z TUE. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR AMENDED TAFS. && .FIRE WEATHER... WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... EXPECTING A RELATIVELY ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEKEND. MODELS CONTINUE TO DEPICT SEVERAL STORM SYSTEMS ORIGINATING IN THE NORTHERN PACIFIC AND MOVING INTO THE SOUTHWEST CONUS. EVEN THOUGH TIMING AND DETAILS OF THESE SYSTEMS VARY BETWEEN MODELS...GUIDANCE STILL ILLUSTRATES A SYSTEM PASSING THROUGH THE SOUTHWEST CONUS EVERY TWO TO THREE DAYS. REGARDLESS OF THE TIMING AND DETAIL ISSUES...EXPECT BELOW AVERAGE TEMPERATURES...SLIGHTLY TO MODERATELY ELEVATED RH VALUES...PERIODS OF INCREASED WIND...AND PRECIPITATION CHANCES WITH EACH SYSTEM. && .PSR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AZ...WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 11 AM MST TUESDAY FOR AZZ024. CA...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL MIDNIGHT PST TONIGHT FOR CAZ033. && NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX IS ON THE INTERNET AT WEATHER.GOV/PHOENIX DISCUSSION...VASQUEZ/WATERS AVIATION...HIRSCH FIRE WEATHER...PADDOCK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ 531 AM MST MON FEB 9 2009 AZZ022>024-027-028-100115- NORTHWEST MARICOPA COUNTY-GREATER PHOENIX AREA- SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY/TONTO NATIONAL FOREST FOOTHILLS- SOUTHWEST MARICOPA COUNTY-NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL PINAL COUNTY- 531 AM MST MON FEB 9 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST-CENTRAL ARIZONA AND SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA. ...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 11 AM MST TUESDAY FOR SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY... .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ANOTHER STRONG PACIFIC STORM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA TODAY. THIS WILL BE A COLDER SYSTEM WITH SNOW LEVELS FALLING TO NEAR 4000 FEET IN SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY. SNOW TOTALS WILL RANGE FROM 1 TO 3 INCHES ABOVE 4000 FEET...AND 3 TO 5 INCHES ABOVE 5000 FEET. CHANCES OF RAINFALL WILL INCREASE TONIGHT ACROSS THE LOWER DESERTS OF SOUTH- CENTRAL ARIZONA AS WELL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY TUESDAY...SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON...WITH SNOW LEVELS FALLING TO NEAR 3000 FEET IN SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY. AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 3 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE ABOVE 3000 FEET. SNOW SHOULD TAPER OFF LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. AZZ020-021-025-026-CAZ030>033-100115- LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY AZ-WEST CENTRAL DESERTS- YUMA/MARTINEZ LAKE AND VICINITY-SOUTHWEST DESERTS- JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK-LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY CA- RIVERSIDE COUNTY/EASTERN DESERTS-IMPERIAL COUNTY- 531 AM MST MON FEB 9 2009 /431 AM PST MON FEB 9 2009/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EXTREME SOUTHWEST ARIZONA...EXTREME WEST-CENTRAL ARIZONA...SOUTHWEST ARIZONA...WEST- CENTRAL ARIZONA...EXTREME SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA. ...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR IMPERIAL COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA... .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WINDY CONDITIONS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...ESPECIALLY IN IMPERIAL COUNTY...WHERE STRONG WEST WINDS OF 30 MPH WITH GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH WILL BE COMMON. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST MAY BRIEFLY REDUCE VISIBILITIES BELOW ONE MILE AT TIMES. THERE IS ALSO A CHANCE OF SHOWERS TODAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX IS ON THE INTERNET AT WEATHER.GOV/PHOENIX
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Several inches of new snow reported around southern Gila county. The heaviest amount was 12 inches in the Top of the World community, about 7 miles east of Superior.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, February 2009
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: 154516.