The worst winter you've experienced in the valley (Phoenix: purchase, live)

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Worst was 1980 (or maybe 78 too) when floods washed out all the bridges and crossings but one over the Salt/Gila River. I lived on the "wrong" side then in Ahwahtukee. It took between 3 and 5 hours to get to work just across the river.

Late January1980. I was at ASU, lived on the north side of the river, so I would drive to the zoo, park there, and bike across the Mill Avenue bridge, which was one of two over the Salt. The other was one of the two I-10 bridges, I don't remember the direction which was temporarily closed. The March 1978 floods washed out the low water crossings (McKellips, Rural, 40th, 7th, etc) but the bridges were all OK.

New Years Eve, 1976 (?) it got very cold (a relative term) in the East Valley, mid- to low-20s. A lot of growers had damaged citrus, and on New Years Day the apartment complex my grandmother managed needed me to clean up and remove a lot of Indian Fig prickly pear pads that had frozen overnight and fallen off the plants. It wasn't that cold, not compared to the Northeast of Upper Midwest, but what was unusual about that "cold" spell was the duration... it was below freezing for several hours, followed by a bright, sunny morning that quickly melted the frozen plants, further damaging them. I ended up with two or three wheelbarrows full of cactus pads, too damaged to use as nopales or nopalitos.

[kytoaz]

Our first new years eve here 5 years ago it snowed big snowflakes at the bikini lounge about 20 minutes before the countdown. the entire bar ran outside. My native phoenix friend said he's never seen it snow downtown in his lifetime.
That's all I got when it comes to "worst winter" lol.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

Late January1980. I was at ASU, lived on the north side of the river, so I would drive to the zoo, park there, and bike across the Mill Avenue bridge, which was one of two over the Salt. The other was one of the two I-10 bridges, I don't remember the direction which was temporarily closed. The March 1978 floods washed out the low water crossings (McKellips, Rural, 40th, 7th, etc) but the bridges were all OK.

New Years Eve, 1976 (?) it got very cold (a relative term) in the East Valley, mid- to low-20s. A lot of growers had damaged citrus, and on New Years Day the apartment complex my grandmother managed needed me to clean up and remove a lot of Indian Fig prickly pear pads that had frozen overnight and fallen off the plants. It wasn't that cold, not compared to the Northeast of Upper Midwest, but what was unusual about that "cold" spell was the duration... it was below freezing for several hours, followed by a bright, sunny morning that quickly melted the frozen plants, further damaging them. I ended up with two or three wheelbarrows full of cactus pads, too damaged to use as nopales or nopalitos.

You're right. 10 was partially open in 1980. That's the road I used. I recall vendors walking among the stalled traffic selling newspapers (remember those?) and coffee.

It used to get really cold around here compared to now. I recall mid-teens every couple years in the cold spots in south Phoenix. The orange groves that are now Gilbert would use "frost water" and had those fans in the rows to pull down warmer air above the inversion. Over the years, it has warmed in the urban areas and we see all kinds of plants now that would never have made it back then.

[ElleTea]

It must have been around December 2014 when the Superstitions got a dusting of snow and my car windshield had frost on it one morning. Like, legit frost you had to scrape. I got to work that day and a coworker, who is a local, was late. When she finally got to work, she was freaking out about the fact that she had frost on her windshield. She was telling everyone she didn’t know if she could come to work because her car was “covered in ice!” It made her an hour late.

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

It must have been around December 2014 when the Superstitions got a dusting of snow and my car windshield had frost on it one morning. Like, legit frost you had to scrape. I got to work that day and a coworker, who is a local, was late. When she finally got to work, she was freaking out about the fact that she had frost on her windshield. She was telling everyone she didn’t know if she could come to work because her car was “covered in ice!” It made her an hour late.

There were times when Camelback Mountain, Squaw/Piestewa Peak and the Phoenix Mountains, South Mountain and even Mummy Mountain would see a dusting of snow. I only saw a few flakes, once, and the kids down the street were all screaming "It's snowing!" There were a number of times in the 80s I had to scrape frost off the windshield before going to ASU, and as a kid the small hills in Chestnut Park next to my school were a favorite place to slide down on a piece of cardboard or for those of us with better balance and/or coordination, on foot, during those occasional days when a heavy frost covered the grass.

Those hills seemed so tall back then... I saw them two weeks ago when visiting for Thanksgiving, not too tall now, and we can't blame it on erosion.

[Ponderosa]

Scraping frost is still an occasional treat for those who live in the outer suburbs where the heat island hasn't yet reached. Thick fog, too.

[Ponderosa]

Maybe this winter will make some memories. I was up at my place on the Rim this weekend looking at all the white stuff and thinking it has been quite some time since I have seen decent snow around Clints Well this early in December.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Scraping frost is still an occasional treat for those who live in the outer suburbs where the heat island hasn't yet reached. Thick fog, too.

This was a particularly unusual day, apparently, because she lived near downtown LOL

Juat had to laugh at her "my car was covered in ice" thing since I lived where freezing rain happens and i have had to deal with a car covered in actual ice many times, often with snow on top of it.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

This was a particularly unusual day, apparently, because she lived near downtown LOL

Juat had to laugh at her "my car was covered in ice" thing since I lived where freezing rain happens and i have had to deal with a car covered in actual ice many times, often with snow on top of it.

Especially when the wipers freeze to the window. I have driven the first couple miles to work with my head out the window here too because the window would frost over. I keep anti-freeze wiper fluid in the tank because I go up north a lot, but most people just have regular and it freezes to the window on some very cold mornings if you try to use it to melt the frost.

[wit-nit]

I remember the 1978 flood that took out most of the bridges around the valley. The Bell Rd bridge between Sun City and Sun City West was completely lifted and moved about a 1/4 mile downstream by the flooding Agua Fria River. People were stranded for days or longer in parts of the valley.
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