Arizona buried, again, beneath a tide of snow

Erik Kain

Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.

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65 Responses

  1. Will Truman says:

    We got a good dump last night, which was necessary and welcome (the farmers are really, really worried about the snow dearth this winter). Today the sun is out. Sun and the sun’s reflection on snow make for a pretty miserable experience for my eyes.

    At the moment, it’s looking like next winter here will be our last. We came really, really close to accepting something a few hours from where you are. But it looks like we’re staying put. I am looking forward to a place that we will be able to call home.Report

    • Erik Kain in reply to Will Truman says:

      Sun on snow is hard for my eyes, too. Here at least it melts quickly. In many ways, this climate is so, so much better than a place like Montana (where I lived for quite some time.) But it gets old. We spent last week in Scottsdale in the palm trees, in a pool. It was great. But Scottsdale in July? I shudder at the thought.

      Which is to say, I guess I need two houses in two places!Report

  2. Ethan Gach says:

    So jealous. PA barely got any snow this winter.  Maybe 5 inches total?

    Still, looks like a pain, especially so much at once.Report

  3. BlaiseP says:

    Ecch, if you want to change the weather in Arizona, just drive up to Flagstaff.   Spend some time in Sedona.    I’d drive up to Snowbowl and find snow up there in the middle of August.

    Got a ton of pictures from my time there.Report

  4. Richard Mehlinger says:

    Might I humbly suggest sunny California. Palm Springs in SoCal is good if you like hot weather; the South Bay in NorCal is good if you want something a bit cooler, but still resolutely snow free.Report

  5. Nob Akimoto says:

    Come down to Austin. Not only do we very rarely get snow, but you could build on your current rise as a video game journalist! Bioware Austin is right in town, as are a bunch of other developers! In depth interviews, hard hitting investigative reporting, etc. etc…

    One might also argue this is just karma paying back Arizona with interest for all the silly laws they’re enacting…Report

  6. Ottawa’s lovely right now. The toddler and I were in shorts at the park, yesterday.

    Sorry, rarely in a conversation does Ottawa have far warmer weather than… well… most places.Report

    • North in reply to Jonathan McLeod says:

      Minnesota is roasting right now. If I don’t get some cold weather back sometime soon I’m gonna be mightily cross.Report

      • Kimmi in reply to North says:

        worry about the calm before the storm. I don’t think you guys are immune to tornadoes. (I’m in Appalachia! we basically are.)Report

        • North in reply to Kimmi says:

          Minnesota over all isn’t certainly. The urban heat shield tends to deflect them from the Twin cities themselves. I’m too close in to the downtown core to fret much over tornadoes. I do not want another roaring hot summer. I’ll take the summer of 2011 thank you very much. So wonderful.Report

          • BlaiseP in reply to North says:

            Not for love or money (well, maybe money) would I ever work in Twin Cities again.     Couldn’t get a hotel with a decent kitchen to save my life so I was staying in Woodbury, working over by 280 and Energy Park/Kasota.   Driving I-94 coming through St Paul was an act of unmitigated sodomy every day, at every hour of day.    What’s more, though I’ve done a good deal of my work remotely, the client absolutely insisted I be there from 8 to 5.

            Did an engagement in Eagan before that one.   A two mile commute.   Eagan’s got the personality of an empty cardboard box though.

            Como Park, wonderful.   Theater district, a joy.   Living there?   For the birds, quite literally.   Driving in Minn/St Paul is beyond awful, and I thought Chicago and Houston and LA were bad.Report

            • North in reply to BlaiseP says:

              Not my experience though since I escaped directly from the howling wilderness of Nova Scotia to the Urban busom of Minneapolis perhaps I lack the experience to appreciate a nicer city. I live downtown and walk almost everywhere (only just got a car year 7 of my eight years of living here) so I can’t speak to the traffic (though to a rural Canadian all American drivers are insane). But I love Minneapolis. St Paul on the other hand is the eigth layer of hell. They don’t worship Satan in St Paul, he worships them.Report

              • Kimmi in reply to North says:

                hehe. you should try driving in Boston. Or Rome. or, heavens forfend, Sicily!Report

              • North in reply to Kimmi says:

                There must be some country that drives more staidly than Canadians! The English? The Germans?Report

              • Kimmi in reply to North says:

                Swedes?Report

              • Nob Akimoto in reply to North says:

                Neither. Motor sports are quite popular in European countries as a whole…ever notice that the centre of the speedometer is set higher on Eurocars than American ones? That’s not a coincidence..

                Swedes love their fast cars, too.Report

              • Kimmi in reply to Nob Akimoto says:

                oy. yes. I suddenly find myself recalling road rallies in England…Report

              • MikeSchilling in reply to Kimmi says:

                Or, worse still, Malta.Report

              • Ginger in reply to North says:

                Wow, another bluenoser!  Where in NS were you?Report

              • Michael Drew in reply to North says:

                St. Paul’s pretty drab, but it’s a nice speed (unless you get on the Interstate).  Reminds me of my beloved Madison, without any of the nice stuff.  Minneapolis is certainly nicer, but I’m not quite sure what to love about it either.  Basically, the Twin Cities have most (not all) of the problems of Real Cities and some (but not that many) of what I consider to be their features.  Madison has almost none of those problems, and some pretty decent approximations of the features (and I say this as a guy who does care about things like an ass-kicking professional symphony orchestra, which Minneapolis definitely does have).  Only Chicago and New York are Chicago and New York.

                I guess what I’m saying is, if you can just choose a city (and who can these days?, but if you could), and you wanted what Real Cities have to offer, for my money you would go with New York or Chicago way before you’d go with the Cities.  And if you want some nice stuff in a really livable environment without the big problems of major urban environments, for my money, among the places I’ve been, you’d go with Madison, though I know there are a lot of places like that.  I’m not sure know what you would be seeking for the Twin Cities to be the place that fits the bill just right.Report

  7. Mike Dwyer says:

    We got 7 inches total for the winter and 4 of that was a weird March snowstorm a few days after the tornadoes. I was wearing shorts again 3 days later.

    …and my grass already needs to be mowed. That just ain’t right.Report

  8. greginak says:

    129 inches of snow here in Anchorage. Second highest snowfall on record. Great winter for skiing but a bit tired of shovelling. We are going to moving in a few years and are struggling with finding  a place in the west that still has good winters (ie with snow) and non oppressive summers. I’ve always like Flagstaff myself.Report

  9. Erik Kain says:

    Sitting at the cafe this morning, it is now a white-out outside. Driving home will be super fun.Report

  10. BSK says:

    Wait, Arizona gets snow? Lots of it!?!? I thought people moved there to get away from snow?Report

  11. It was so warm, I went to the beach the past two days up here in BOSTON.Report

  12. Mary M says:

    Yesterday I started my day with two hours of snow followed by one hour of rain. It was sunny and beautiful for about three hours before it began hailing like crazy for about 45 minutes. Out came the sun again! A little more snow and then it rained until I went to bed.

    Love this Oregon weather!Report