With January gloom and a few days of wet weather, people start to wonder, do we get a lot of snow St George?
Because of the dry, desert climate and relatively warm temperatures, snow St George doesn’t happen very often — but it does happen. And when it does, people get all excited about it.
When St George freezes over
Often the area’s summertime temperatures are equated with the underworld. In the winter, the parallel occasionally continues when, on rare occasions, St. George freezes over.
Take December 2013 for example.
The big one
Snow St George happens roughly once per year in the area, but it seldom sticks around more than a couple of hours. Back in December 2013 however, the area was hit with buckets of white stuff, causing “the most severe winter weather the region has seen in living memory,” according to StGeorgeNews.com
Though hardly a state of national emergency, the snow St George that year did lead to some interesting challenges — when you consider the lack of equipment and supplies the county keeps on hand to deal with winter weather in this typically warm area.
“Area stores can’t keep up with the sudden demand for sleds, snow shovels and ice-melt,” the StGeorgeNews article says.
According to the National Weather Service, the snow St George in 2013 was the second heaviest snowfall ever recorded in Zion National Park in a 24-hour period. It fell just short of the all-time record from 1894 when 15 inches of snow fell in a single day.
The strangest part for some Southern Utah residents about the 2013 snow St George was the fact that it didn’t melt right away. In fact, it stuck around for days.
The norm
More typical, is the example of snow St George from January 2017 when a few inches of snow sent students and parents into a tailspin. They all wonder how they could possibly attend school. Washington County School District is not in the habit of canceling school for weather-related issues. But when there is snow on the road it does impact the ability of busses to safely transport students. Busses in Washington County are not equipped with snow tires, chains or other things to ensure safe travel. This, combined with a lack of snow plows available in Washington County, if the roads aren’t clear, students are occasionally treated with a snow day.
Snow St George vs. USA
According to data from 2016 available on BestPlaces.net, St. George vs. the rest of the country looked like this:
CLIMATE St. George United States
Rainfall (inches) 8.255 39.2
Snowfall (inches) 3.34 25.8
Precipitation days 25.05 102
Sunny days 255 205
Average July high 102.3 86.1
Average Jan. low 30.65 22.6
Historical reference
The highest temperature on record is 118 degrees Fahrenheit on July 4, 2007. The lowest temperature was recorded low of -11 degrees, and a record low maximum temperature of 17 degrees, both in January 1937.
January is historically the wettest month of the year in St. George. So even though the current gloominess feels like an anomaly after a rather dry December 2017, it’s really not that unusual. It doesn’t necessarily mean we are headed for snow St George.
But we could be.
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