It’s becoming a record year for snowfall in Flagstaff area

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — National Weather Service officials don’t have to be told that 2022-23 is becoming a record year for snowfall totals in the Flagstaff area. For employees in the service’s office in Bellemont, all they have to do is look out their windows. The Bellemont office has had 146.7 inches of snow from last July to Wednesday. That tops the previous record of 115.4 inches set from July 1, 2009 to March 1, 2010. At the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport, 140.1 inches of snow has been recorded since July 1, second only to the 153.9 inches in the July to March timespan in 1948-49. But snowfall was not looked upon fondly by motorists in northwestern Arizona who were stuck in a traffic jam on Interstate 40 for nearly five hours Wednesday night. A winter storm caused a road closure from Kingman to Flagstaff. Arizona Department of Transportation officials said many vehicles were on the shoulder of state Route 93 near Kingman or stopped in the right lane creating a backup. ADOT crews and Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers tried to get the stranded people to drive into town until the snowy weather could clear up.