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.
It’s great that one can do all three of these in the winter. Ski in Flagstaff; run and mountain bike in the deserts. We have done all three this winter with the emphasis on running. Here are a collection of photos from this winter.
Group of runners stand around pools of water (01/20/2024).X-C skiing at Fort Tuthill (02/09/2024).X-C skiing at Fort Tuthill (02/09/2024).Trail run on Sketch Trail, Sedona (02/13/2024).Snowy run on Schultz Pass Road (02/15/2024).Trail run on Margs Draw, Sedona (02/17/2024).Mountain biking on Little Rock Trail, Sedona (02/20/2024).Trail run on Lower Chimney Trail, Flagstaff (02/22/2024).Trail run on Woods Canyon Trail, Sedona (03/02/2024).Trail run on Woods Canyon Trail, Sedona (03/02/2024).
Bonus photo from last year’s epic winter. Yeah, untracked powder!
Preparing to descend Flying Dutchman chute, Mt. Humphreys (01/18/2023).
In a previous post I wrote how the North American Monsoon (NAM) was very late getting started in July. Fortunately, once started, it resulted in normal precipitation amounts for the month of August. Here are photographs and discussion of some of the events during the month.
Yesterday (01 August) had only scattered thunderstorm activity for much of the day. However, radar indicated a weak convergence boundary near Flagstaff so there was a chance of late afternoon storms developing close by. And so it did happen.
A strong storm was located east of Flagstaff just before and after sunset. As the sun dropped to the horizon the underside of the storm and anvil cloud was lit with golden hour light. This is a panorama of that view. It was taken with a ultra-wide-angle lens in portrait mode with ten individual images that were stitched together.
