Snow-seekers jam roads in, around Flagstaff

Police towed cars and wrote tickets for illegal parking. On Arizona 180, which heads toward Grand Canyon, snow recreation areas filled up fast, and there was no overflow parking allowed along the roadway.

Snowfall in the region so far this winter is 39 percent above 30-year averages, at 41.6 inches since September.

Near the Arizona Snowbowl ski area, traffic was stop-and-go Friday night all the way into the city.

Snow recreation areas had long lines of vehicles waiting to get into parking lots.

Phoenix resident Jeremy Bird said he and his family waited in line for about a half-hour before getting a call that Wing Mountain was full.

"On the way back out, there was probably another 100 cars that had no idea," he said.

No place to park

After arriving in Flagstaff he had been advised to go from the Nordic Center to Crowley Pit, where the road was closed, to Wing Mountain, which was full.

When he found a place to park that he said was not obstructing traffic, law enforcement told him to move.

Daylight was beginning to fade when he and the kids found a place to play on flat snow, with no sledding.

This was also the case for trucker Joe Valdovinos, who went from one spot to another after driving north from Phoenix.

"We just kind of drove around for another one-and-a-half to two hours to find someplace for our kids to play," Valdovinos said.

Lines of cars were trying to park near the Nordic Center and jamming every plowed surface along the highway.

Responding to last weekend's traffic jams in the city and on Arizona 180, Flagstaff police, the county sheriff and highway patrol are encouraging tourists leaving recreation areas north of the city in late afternoon to try a second city route today.

Alternate route

The police department hopes to avoid gridlock along Flagstaff's downtown streets

Today, electronic signs will suggest drivers coming south into Flagstaff along Arizona 180 and heading to Phoenix to try a marked, alternate route through the city and to both Interstate 40 and Interstate 17.

Additional police officers will be working to manage traffic.

Meanwhile, warming weather has thinned ice at Upper Lake Mary, so U.S. Forest Service and the Coconino County Sheriff's Office officials warned residents to stay off.

Another storm was on the way, but much weaker than the series of fronts that dumped nearly 2 feet of snow on Flagstaff in late December.

This time, the region is expected to receive a total of 1 to 3 inches of snow through this weekend.

Precipitation is expected to stop after Monday, with a return to above-normal temperatures and some days of high clouds, said the National Weather Service.