Downtown Anchorage, click for live image

Here’s a link to borealisbroadband.net’s list of camera’s.

Last year on Mt. Lemmon

The storm that left 5″ of snow on Mt. Lemmon and even a dusting on Tombstone has now moved into Far West Texas.  El Paso has had a couple of inches of snow from the storm as the vigorous upper level low combines with more moisture and some cooler air.  The Sun isn’t quite up yet in El Paso, but here are some web cams to check this morning before it all melts.  The roads look wet, so the snow has marginal sticking power in El Paso even though they do have a Winter Storm Warning.

Meanwhile in Roswell, NM (my old stomping grounds) it’s snowing right now with a Winter Weather Advisory in effect.  They are expecting “Generally 2-4″ of snow..”  Here’s a nice web cam on the Pecos River in Carlsbad, NM with which to watch the snow coming down.

Lubbock, where I also lived for years, is expecting 1-3″ of snow with some sleet and rain mixed in today.  Yes, I am jealous!

The good news is (for snow lovers like me) El Nino Winters are generally cooler and snowier for places like Roswell, Lubbock, El Paso and even Tucson.  We’re just getting warmed up… er started.

Update 6:24 a.m. MST: The El Paso cams I have linked are somewhat of a bust with images from last night that aren’t updating.  However, the Carlsbad “Brad Light’s Cam” camera is GREAT!  Here’s a shot I just captured.  Snow in Carlsbad!

Snow Day in Carlsbad, NM!

Update 6:42 a.m. MST: Here is a link to webcams in Midland, Odessa, Notrees and Hobbs.  Snow in Hobbs and a dusting in Notrees.  Also, a friend of mine on Facebook, Jessica Armstrong, says it has started to snow in Lubbock near 50th and Quaker.

Update 8:07 a.m. MST:  Snow sticking in Lubbock.  Courtesy KCBD First Alert DigitalTower Cam:

Grassy areas and roofs right now

I have way too many snow stories to tell. Some of them are on my web site, www.mikeshaw.tv. I think my love for snow is why I was looking forward to living in Alaska when I was a teenager. I was accepted to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks! Anchorage wasn’t cold enough for me :-) I was going to study Meteorology and Communications. Unfortunately, I wasn’t mature enough to make it happen. I still ended up being a weatherman, but I took the longer, poorer, more southern route. Who knows what would have been? As much as I used to drink back then, being that far away from home in a state where the drinking age was 19 and the outside temperature in Winter is usually below zero, it could have gone badly.  Perhaps God was protecting me!

I still like to visit web cams in Alaska to look at the snow. AlaskaCam is probably the most famous overlooking downtown Anchorage. I just found another with a really nice view! Here’s a capture from earlier this afternoon. Perty, huh?

So, I’ve lived in frigid places like Western Oregon where a chilly rain is much more common than a snowstorm. Roswell, NM where it does get cold and snowy some years! Most though, not so much. Lubbock like Roswell can have some snowy years, but it usually doesn’t last long. In Odessa, Texas I think it snowed once in the two years I lived there and even then it was like an inch. Here in Tucson we had snow last year! Three inches downtown, but here in Oro Valley just a dusting of slush :-)

I think for now I am resigned to visiting the snow. Mt. Lemmon is about an hour drive away. They even have a little ski area at the top! Earlier this year in March when Micheal was visiting we drove up there and they still had snow! It was cold too :-) I’m hoping to go skiing up there sometime, although I’m not optimistic about this year. La Nina is forming in the Pacific. That usually means warm and dry for the Southwest. Oh well, maybe next year :-)