Waking up to a winter storm warning in February is SOP for a Wisconsin-ite...well, unless you're currently in Tucson. It doesn't help morale when you're facing an 84 mile ride from Tucson to Sierra Vista.
We rose to the challenge and headed out at 7:15 in a light rain, mid to high 40 temperatures, and a tail wind. All was well until the real rain (or was that hail or just sleet?) started. Turning into the wind was tough. At the first rest stop Dennis, having lost feeling in his hands, called it a day and joined the many already in the sag. Carol thought she could go another rest stop until Lon pulled in and convinced the remaining group that continuing was not a good idea. The next stop would go to elevation and visibility was decreasing. If Lon's pulling the plug, who are the rest of us mere mortals to argue.
It was, indeed, snowing on the pass and temperatures in Sonoita, on the other side of the pass, were 40 with a 28 degree wind chill.
All in all a healthy 21 challenging miles. Needless to say, no pictures, although the snow on the mountains was lovely. Better weather awaits us....or so they are telling us.
Edit: 0.25 inches of rain fell in Tucson during the 2 hours we were riding. Overall, nearly an inch of rain fell, besting the previous record of 0.67 inches on the date.