St George Golf Courses Begin To Recover After Big Snow

Golf is popular year-round in St. George, but it has been difficult to play this week because of record snow and cold. Happily, the weather is finally warming up and the snow is melting quickly from most area courses. Forecasters say the thermometer will rise to 52 F on Tuesday - back to normal conditions for that usually sun-drenched city.

StGeorgeUtah.com this interesting article about snow on the greens. The article is illustrated by fun photos showing a guy out golfing. Here are excerpts:

“I have never seen anything to this extent,” said Scott Brandt, golf pro at Bloomington Country Club for 22 years. Bloomington, which has been closed since last Friday, usually sees about 75 golfers a day this time of year. We are hoping that we don’t have damage to our irrigation system once the snow melts, Brandt said.

While the city courses may not open until early next week, they are hoping to have the driving range at Southgate Golf Club open on Saturday. I would be extremely surprised if we are able to open before next week, Bloomington’s Brandt said.

It has been many years since St. George has seen so much snow and such cold temperatures, according to this article, also from StGeorgeUtah.com. Here are more excerpts.

NWS Meteorologist Christine Kruse keeps a close eye on weather records in the state of Utah. She said that, while the NWS did not collect any official data from St. George this week, if it really did reach zero, Monday morning would be the coldest it has been in St. George since the all-time record was set at minus 11 degrees in January of 1937.

The weekend snowfall set records for the region as well. On Saturday, Zion National Park saw its most intense 24-hour snowfall in years.

“They ended up with 12 inches from the storm,” Kruse said, which makes it the second-heaviest snowfall ever recorded at the park in a 24-hour period. The all-time record was set in 1894 when 15 inches of snow fell in a single day.

Feelings have been mixed around town. Some folks are enjoying playing in the snow. Others are looking forward to the more normal conditions that are slowly returning: 40 F tomorrow, 46 F Sunday, 52 F Tuesday...