Monday, December 22, 2008

Snow Has Arrived in Palm Springs

Winter has arrived in Palm Springs. Recent storms in Southern California did not spare us, coating the mountains that surround the Coachella Valley with a layer of marshmallow-I mean snow. With mountains as high as 10,000 and 12,000 feet high, we usually see snow at the highest peaks during this time of year. Cooler winter temperatures, along with a series of storms led to snow accumulation at the lower levels of the mountain ranges, probably as low as 2,000 feet high. In this series of photos you can see how low the snow is on the mountains. Here on the desert floor, our daily temperature these past few days have been around 65-68 degrees, so we don't have any snow. I took this photo above, and the little video below. The rest of the photos are from The Desert Sun website, which are much better than what my camera would have taken. I'm sharing them as proof that we actually DO have a change of seasons here in the desert!
Here's a video taken from my back yard:

And now a few spectacular photos-click on them to biggify:

above: you can see the difference in elevation, where the snow accumulated. My guess is that's about 2,500 feet high.
above: these are taken form an angle looking up toward toward the higher elevations. I like the contrast of the palm trees against the snowy mountains.
above: another great contrast. One of the many reasons why I love living in Palm Springs. We get the snow, but can enjoy it from our back yard in shorts! How's the weather where you live? Share your story...
-Rick Rockhill

15 comments:

Tea said...

Oh....to be able to wear shorts this time of year LOL
Brrrrrrrrr...it`s freezing here.
Have the most wonderful Christmas and best New Year Rick!!

tea
xo

snowelf said...

Hey! It does look like marshmallow!

We are BURIED in snow up here and the clouds are relentlessly dumping on us. It was -1 yesterday when we were out picking up a few things, so we're staying inside as much as possible.

A trip to the desert would be great right now!! :D

--snow

Anonymous said...

so pretty! I just love seeing snow.

Maggie Moo said...

I absolutely LOVE the pictures with the palm trees against the snow. That is just so cool!

The weather in Boston today is bright, clear and sunny. Oh-and COLD. It's about 25 here now. There's still tons of snow and ice and so the schools are closed until next year!

Anonymous said...

What an incredible view! It was 9 degrees here in Nashville at 6am this morning. BRRRRR!

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

76 and sunny on the balcony this morning... sigh!

smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A Lewis said...

Don't miss Portland's snow pics from my site yesterday....we're in a real mess here. I can hardly wait for the rain to return (I never thought I'd say that!). Merry Christmas, Rick....I send you all of the comfort, joy, and peace you need....at just the right times. Happy Holidays. Still thinking of you.

kenju said...

Palm trees and snow! What a great view from your yard!

Matt said...

It started snowing here in Seattle on Thursday, and didn't stop until late last night. We have close to 10 inches at our house. I made it in to work on Thursday, but not Friday and couldn't get in today - the side streets are impassable and there are no buses running in my neighborhood. I used to love it when it snowed here, but enough already!! Please stop!

Jeni said...

Here in central Pennsylvania, we have about 4-6 inches on the ground -some from this past Friday's "event" and some from other snowfalls prior to that. Today though marked the coldest day of this winter -thus far -with temps as low as 1 degree farenheit and wind chills of -15 to -25 below zero! That's some cold weather, folks so definitely no sitting out on the deck in shorts, looking at the snow! Not unless you want to freeze your goodies off completely, that is!

B said...

hey Buddy

merry christmas and all the best in the new year
b xo

Olivia said...

Pffff, when you said snow had arrived....

But it looks so beautiful from afar, no wonder you all think it's sugar dust. How lucky you are not to have to shovel it off your driveway.

Karelian Blonde said...

Here in London town we have a pleasant +10 degrees and sunny spells in between the different shades of gray.

I just adore your mountain view *sigh*

Desert Songbird said...

We've had several days of rain and temps only in the 50s. Quite chilly and gloomy, but I actually like it. It was warm for much later this year; I was wondering if we'd actually get any chilly weather this year.

We're supposed to get more rain and snow at 5,500 feet and above. It's coming from your way.

WAT said...

And more of that fine powder is coming tonight! YEEHA!

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