Are Williams water woes washing away?

Kaibab Lake - 2012

Kaibab Lake – 2012

WILLIAMS—Last year, Williams experienced a terrible time with weather. In this case, that means less snow than usual. The Santa Fe and Buckskinner reservoirs drained considerably. The last two-years have been drier than usual, in fact.

This year two heavy snows seemed to have been helpful to the northern Arizona community in recovering from their water woes. At least for this year.

Ice forming on Santa Fe dam.

Ice forming on Santa Fe dam.

Santa Fe dam spilled over on March 13th, but stopped flowing at least as of last Friday. Today we caught some photos of ice formations on the dam indicating the freezing temperatures Williams still receives at night.

Over the hill, the dam at Buckskinner park started spilling over which is good news for the city. Buckskinner park opened for vehicle traffic today.

The old dam has been spilling over filling both ponds and creating a frog haven. This area has been dry the last two years.

On the fourteenth, Dogtown and Kaibab lakes were filling, but neither were to capacity. Ducks, however, took advantage of the rising lake by swimming in areas which, last year, were completely dry.

There is snow yet to melt and Williams residents know that they can expect snow through May. The current long range forecast, in fact, shows a chance of rain Friday and the possibility of snow above 6800 feet on Monday. Lows at night are expected to be in the lower 30s with temperatures rising to the lower 60s throughout the rest of the week.