Snow begins to melt in Quail Creek on Thursday.
The snow slowly melts from a prickly pear.
Eric Sullwold of Green Valley captured this image in his backyard.
The snow hangs on about 7 a.m. Thursday.
Snow art in Villas West.
Snow art in Villas West.
Looking east toward the mountains on Thursday.
Snow in Madera Canyon on Friday.
An overnight winter storm surprised Green Valley and Sahuarita with a little more than a dusting of snow Thursday morning.
According to the National Weather Service in Tucson, snowfall totals ranged from about an inch in the southern portions of Green Valley to 5.1 inches in areas near Madera Canyon. Sahuarita residents saw about three inches of snow, though some residents reported varying amounts.
NWS said Oracle saw about six inches of snow, and the corridor between Vail and Benson saw four to seven inches. On top of Mt. Lemmon, the Summerhaven community saw about a foot of snow overnight.
The snow in Madera Canyon was enough for the Santa Rita Lodge to open its gift shop up a little later than usual.
Melissa Holmblad, one of the gift shop employees, said they opened at 11 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. out of caution.
“First thing in the morning, I got a text from the owner to open at 11 a.m. because there was still a lot of slush on the road at the time,” she said. “There was about three to four inches of snow in the canyon and it was actually still snowing.”
She said when she arrived there was ice at the top of the mountain but no major road conditions.
“We still had plenty of birders up here despite the snow,” she said. “People came out because most people aren’t from around here and hardly anyone here gets to see that kind of snow.”
As of Friday morning, Holmblad said there was still a good amount of snow in the canyon.
About one inch of snow was recorded at Tucson International Airport, the region’s official recording location, ranking as the seventh-highest one-day March snowfall, and just the 10th occurrence of measurable snowfall in Tucson’s climate history for March, according to NWS.
On Thursday, NWS said Tucson has seen about 1.5 inches of snowfall this season – more than Philadelphia (0.3 inches) and Washington, D.C. (0.4 inches).
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