Palm Springs City Hall gets dusted in the late 1970s.
PHOTO COURTESY PALM SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
“The world is about to end.”
So declared a post on the local NBC station’s Facebook page when it reported snow in Cathedral City on March 1. The news of a dusting in the desert this year warranted an apocalyptic spin, albeit tongue-in-cheek. Coachella Valley residents’ most common encounters with crystalized flakes typically rely on viewing white-capped peaks, riding Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to an elevation of more than 8,500 feet, and driving to the High Desert or Idyllwild. Rare as it may be, icy precipitation landing on local streets disappears as fast as a David Copperfield illusion.
Mother Nature previously deemed the desert floor flurry worthy on Jan. 31, 1979, disrupting the Colgate Triple Crown pro-am golf tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage and a Desert Conference basketball game at College of the Desert in Palm Desert. Tramway Road was impassable, and visibility dropped to 1 mile at the airport, which allowed only departing aircraft on one runway.
Palm Springs Historical Society archival photos evidence a significant snowstorm on Jan. 11, 1930, the likes of which appear not to have been replicated until the ’70s. Meanwhile, light snow in 1957 reached from the San Gorgonio Pass to Palm Springs’ train depot.
Snow falls at La Plaza in Palm Springs, Jan. 31, 1979.
PHOTO BY GEORGE AQUINO, COURTESY PALM SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
In mid-December a decade later, flakes fell as far southeast as Mecca. “The chill winds and dismal atmosphere failed to daunt golfers in usually sunny Palm Springs,” The Desert Sun reported. “A spokesman for O’Donnell Golf Course said guest day had been canceled, ‘but some of the girls showed up anyway’ to play golf in the snow and cold. ‘They had the darndest costumes you ever saw,’ said the spokesman. At Canyon Country Club, one female golfer was observed wearing a miniskirt and another was clad in a blanket.”
A year later, a newspaper reporter wrote, “Frozen precipitation — otherwise known as snow — left a blanket of glistening white at the l,000-foot level and higher yesterday and managed to surprise desert residents and visitors by falling also along Palm Canyon Drive and on desert sand dunes.”
On Jan. 4, 1974, The Desert Sun called attention to Palm Springs’ reputation for always-pool-ready weather with a front page declaring, “Too Bad Chamber. That’s Really Snow.” The article that followed stated that “several minutes of white stuff” fell from the skies, and airport tower officials “reported that snow (there’s that four-letter word again) fell from 7:21 to 7:29 a.m.”
In the absence of natural snow, current desert dwellers dreaming of a white holiday at least can turn to festivities with flakes that don’t fall from the sky.
“The chill winds and dismal atmosphere failed to daunt golfers in usually sunny Palm Springs.”
Since 2015, Palm Springs Air Museum has literally trucked in a winter wonderland.
Enclosed by straw bales, a 50-by-30-foot area of faux snow about 2 feet deep provides an arctic playground dubbed Snowtopia — complemented by fire pits for making s’mores and visits from Santa and Mrs. Claus, as well as Frosty the Snowman.
“We brought in blocks of ice that run through a chipper and then get sprayed through a hose,” explains Greg Kenny, the museum’s former operations manager. “For a two-day event, we had 12 tons the first day
and 10 on the second to ‘backfill.’ Last year, we had 42 tons the first day and added six to last for three days.” The event happens Dec. 19–23.
Cathedral City follows suit this year with 10 tons of frozen groundcover. Launched in 2017, Snow-Fest relied on bubbles to mimic the visual effect of falling flakes. Though the city scaled back to a tree-lighting ceremony in 2021 and 2022, Snow-Fest is back by popular demand. Civic Center Plaza has been designated “North Pole Village” for the Dec. 9 event, and activities will include Dr. Seuss story time, high school performing groups, puppet shows, a vendor market, a rideable train, and photo-ops with the Grinch and Santa and Mrs. Claus.
The erstwhile Canyon Hotel in Palm Springs, Jan. 31, 1979.
PHOTO BY GEORGE AQUINO, COURTESY PALM SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
According to Smithsonian Magazine, the first-known snowmaking machine was erected on a Warner Bros. backlot for the 1934 film As the Earth Turns. But in 1970, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway looked to Mother Nature to solve their troubles.
“Modern scientific cloud seeding by airplane vs. the use of historic Indian Tribal Dances in a desperate effort to bring snow to the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is the intense problem being juggled today by Tramway general manager O.L. McKenney,” The Desert Sun reported.
“I’m receiving worrying letters from little kids who are planning on entering the Snowman Contest,” McKenney told the paper. “It’s not an easy life here lately, trying to order snow by the calendar.”
Putting history into context, we can look to The Desert Sun’s reportage of the 1979 storm: “[I]t may snow again here someday.”