Snow in April! Actually, it isn’t rare for snow in April in Flagstaff. In fact, it is more likely that there is snow in April than no snow. Over the course of record for Flagstaff (1898–2025), there has been measurable snow in 107 of those years. Only 21 years had no snow or only a Trace of snow.
The snowfall this April, however, has been well above average. To date, there has been 13.5″ of snow (average for the entire month is 7.3″), falling in two events: April 2–3 (4.3″) and April 18–19 (9.0″).
This is good news as we had a dry winter. Our snow season total (July 1–present) stands at 60.3″ compared to an average of 87.6″. It is unlikely that we will catch up to normal as the chances for significant snow decrease rapidly going forward. However, this late influx of moisture (both March and April) has been good in bringing the fire danger down to LOW across the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests.
Here are some photographs from both of these events.
Layers of clouds are draped across the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona, in the wake of a winter storm (04 April 2025).The rising sun illuminates clouds draped across Mormon Mountain in northern Arizona in the wake of a winter storm (04 April 2025).
Time-lapse video of clouds over the San Francisco Peaks and Mormon Mountain in northern Arizona.
Streamers of fog and low clouds move below the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona (19 April 2025).Streamers of fog and low clouds move below the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona (19 April 2025).Fog and low clouds move below the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona (19 April 2025).Fog and low clouds drape across the red rock spires of Sedona, Arizona (19 April 2025).The rising Sun illuminates mist and fog swirling around the red rocks of the Munds Mountain Wilderness (19 April 2025).Mist and fog swirls around the red rock cliffs and is reflected in a small pool in Munds Mountain Wilderness (19 April 2025).The setup for the previous photograph.Dewdrops adorn this small lupine in Sedona (19 April 2025).Snow adorns the blossoms of this flowering fruit tree in Flagstaff (19 April 2025).Snow on a flowering forsythia bush in Flagstaff (18 April 2025).Snow on a flowering crab apple tree (18 April 2025).Snow and daffodil, Flagstaff (18 April 2025).Snow in the upper reaches of Oak Creek Canyon with the switchbacks of SR-89A below.
We have had several opportunities in March for good-to-excellent night sky viewing and astrophotography sessions. High on my list was capturing NGC 1499 (“California Nebula”). It resides in the western sky during March and is located near Pleiades but is actually in the constellation Perseus.
The nearly vertical zodiacal light shares the western sky with the winter Milky Way and are faintly reflected in the waters of Upper Lake Mary near Flagstaff, Arizona.
One drawback to observing it in the spring is that there can be interference from zodiacal light. From Wikipedia,
The zodiacal light is a faint glow of diffuse sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust. It appears in a particularly dark night sky to extend from the Sun’s direction in a roughly triangular shape along the zodiac…
…Since zodiacal light is very faint, it is often outshone and rendered invisible by moonlight or light pollution.
I made several attempts at NGC 1499. The first attempt was about as expected as I didn’t actually know where to point the camera so I used a short telephoto focal length (80mm) with a wide field of view (25.3° x 17.0°). Luckily, I pointed it correctly but unluckily I bumped the focus ring and everything had a soft focus. Okay, not a success but not too bad for a first attempt.
First attempt at NGC 1499 (19 March 2025).Third attempt at NGC 1499 (24 March 2025).
On my second attempt I used a longer focal length (180mm) which meant a smaller field of view (11.4° x 13.7°). I had very good focus and other camera settings but managed to actually point it at the wrong object. Instead, I photographed NGC 1579 (“Northern Trifid Nebula”). Oops! But the result was still a success–even if not the object I was seeking.
The third try worked out well. I reverted back to a shorter focal length (85mm) and wider field of view (23.9° x 16.0°) because that might give me a pleasing image with the nebula and neighboring stars. This worked out well except for the previously mentioned zodiacal light. The light was present in the field of view so it was necessary to crop the image to remove the bright band.
I actually prefer the first image as it has better color and less lens flare than the second image.
Finally, I shot images of the zodiacal light using an ultra-wide fisheye lens to capture both the foreground of Upper Lake Mary and the stars and planets up through the zenith. NGC 1499 and NGC 1579 are located to the right of Pleiades but are too small to be visible in this wide view.
The nearly vertical zodiacal light shares the western sky with the winter Milky Way. Annotated to show Pleiades, Jupiter, and Mars. NGC 1499 and NGC 1579 are located to the right of Pleiades.
I have recently started using Siril for my astrophotography processing and have been generally pleased with the results.
As noted in the previous post we had a lot of snow in Flagstaff during the first half of March. That meant if we wanted to do any trail running it had to be elsewhere. And, of course, that means Sedona.
On 22 March the group run was Hangover Trail loop (Munds Wagon Trail, Hangover Trail, Cow Pies Trail).
A brief respite from the near-continuous climbing on the Hangover Trail in Sedona, Arizona.An expansive view of the Red Rocks of Sedona near the intersection of the Cow Pies and Hangover Trails.
The run up Wet Beaver Creek on 29 March was the final Sedona run of the season; we return to running in Flagstaff now that the snow is gone (well, it could return).
This is the turnaround spot on the Wet Beaver Creek Trail. Weather permitting, a few runners make the plunge into the deep pool.A narrow ledge on a steep sandstone cliff along the Wet Beaver Creek trail.
As noted elsewhere on these pages this winter has been very dry and warm. That changed in March as a series of storms moved across the southwest. By the time it was over we had accumulated 2.47″ of SWE (snow water equivalent) and 35.6″ of snow. It was greatly appreciated because we are now heading into our dry and windy season (“wildfire season”) and anything that helps to moisten the landscape is appreciated.
Here is a collection of photographs taken during this extended period of snow.
08 March 2025
Clouds cap the San Francisco Peaks just before sunrise (08 March 2025).Cross country skiing at Fort Tuthill Park in Flagstaff (08 March 2025).Grasses poke through the snow at Fort Tuthill Park (08 March 2025).
14 March 2025
Low clouds race across the Mormon Lake area (14 March 2025).Snow covers the tables and benches at a picnic area at Upper Lake Mary near Flagstaff, Arizona (14 March 2025).
15 March 2025
The clouds departed but winds increased resulting in plumes of blowing snow over the San Francisco Peaks (15 March 2025).
Then it got warm and everything melted. But the forecast indicates that snow is likely this week so time to get some more photographs.
A few weeks ago I shot photographs of the crescent phase of Venus (~11% illuminated) in the southwestern twilight sky. I then decided to also get photographs of the crescent Moon (~32% illuminated) and the planet Jupiter. These were in different parts of the sky and not all visible in the same photograph. I composited them into this image which shows the relative sizes of the three bodies. All images were shot using a 500mm telephoto lens.
Composite image of the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter.
Below is a screen shot from Stellarium showing the actual positions of Jupiter, the Moon, and Venus.
Screen shot from Stellarium showing the actual positions of Jupiter, the Moon, and Venus.
