Snow! in Tucson!

Years can go by without snowfall in Tucson.

So when the rain turned to snow late yesterday morning, I just had to let the kids go outside for a bit; the school where I teach has a significant number of students from Africa--this girl from Ethiopia had never seen it snow before yesterday:

The mountains all around get dumped on several times each winter, but to have the snow level drop down to 2500' or 2000' (600m-760m)--the last time that happened was six years ago, before my wife and I moved here...SNOW IS ALWAYS A BIG DEAL IN TUCSON!

So--as it began to accumulate, the only sane and humane thing to do was to let the class go outside for a quick snowball fight:

(I got one in, too; the students weren't quite quick enough to get me back...and then the bell rang...)

Such a change--just the day before, the high temperature here was 70 degrees.

After school, I went home to change into hiking boots, then went up to Sabino Canyon. The sun had come out and was already melting the lower-elevation snow--that happens so fast in the desert:

...but then the clouds began to roll back in... 

Before I could hike back to the car, a sleety mix began falling.

...and back home, by dinnertime, it had begun to snow--AND stick!--again... 

...unusual to see oleander, cactus, mesquite and yucca frosted with the white stuff...

There was no guarantee, though, that it would stick around until the morning...
...but I set the alarm early just in case (today and tomorrow are school-holidays in Tucson--the Rodeo/Fiesta de los Vaqueras is in town)...

When I woke up this morning, there was still a bit of snow on the patio, so I put my coffee in a travel mug and got in the car, betting that the higher elevation Rincon foothills might still be covered in snow. For years I've wanted to see the rare spectacle of a saguaro forest covered in snow, and Saguaro National Park East is only about a 15-20 minute drive from where we live, so I hoped that last night's snow hadn't melted yet...

...and when I got there, I got my wish:

I got there right before the sun rose over the Rincon Mountains.

Looking back over the NE part of the Tucson basin, 

toward the Santa Catalina Mountains, still covered in clouds:

The ocotillos had just begun to leaf out last week--now blanketed...

 ...but not for long; as soon as the sun rose over the ridge, 

I could hear the drip drip of the snow melting all around me...

  
For me, a teacher, having today off from work--the timing couldn't have been more perfect...it might have been overpoweringly tempting to call in sick had today been a school-day...

...like a giant pitchfork, the saguaro's shadow...

By the time I got back to the trailhead parking lot, the melting was well under way...

So ephemeral...

Snow in Tucson.

(How many years before the next time?)

[For iphoneograpic-scenes of yesterday's and today's 

Tucson snow, click here.]