Island Snow

A big, cold, wet storm just passed through southern Arizona. It seemed to have rained almost non-stop in the desert yesterday. It wasn't until this afternoon that the snow-covered peaks of of the Sky Islands visible from our house began to show themselves. The Santa Ritas, Rincons, and the most accessible of the bunch, the Santa Catalinas, all beckon with their snowy heights, but visiting any of them tomorrow is out of the question.

I strongly suspect that it'll be like Memorial Day weekend, when about half of the population of Tucson heads up the Catalina Highway to recreate, except that only about 1 in 1,000 of them will know how to drive in the remnant snow and ice. I may have grown up in Phoenix, but I went to college in Flagstaff, and it never ceases to amaze me how lowlanders just can't handle the white stuff. I expect Mount Lemmon to turn into a large-scale demolition derby for SUVs and minivans by about 9am or so. Its too bad, really, because I was just wondering if I'd ever get to try out my snowshoes. One of my only disappointments about living in Tucson, and there really are only a few, is that its so far from Flagstaff and the Mogollon Rim country, where, weather permitting, winter sports happen in earnest.

There's always hope that we'll have a good, wet winter here in Baja Arizona, so perhaps I'll be breaking out the snowshoes or even the skinny skis before the season ends. If not, I'll have to settle for warm, dry, midwinter bicycling - not exactly a poor second choice. Moreover, while I'm not racing the next 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo, I'd hate for those that are to experience something like the deluge of 2005.