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junmy3's avatar
junmy3
Explorer
Jul 17, 2018

Grand Canyon in early April

The wife and I are thinking about going to the Grand Canyon in early April 2019. We have a 30'TT. We tow it with a F250. It is only two wheel drive. Is it advisable to go that time of the year. We are from Middle Georgia and definitely not used to snow. We could handle the cold weather if not too extreme.
  • I have visited the south rim of the canyon twice. Once the first week of November, the other on the last few days of Feb/ first few days of March.

    Both were before we were RVers. However the weather was great for RVs in Flagstaff and the South Rim both times. In mid-April 2016 out best RV friends were at the South Rim perfect weather no snow. In late May 2012 they were there and could not get the Class A up the highway due to snow.

    1. If you have never been there, go. It is a fantastic place.
    2. April SHOULD be okay.
    3. If you want a guarantee on weather, visit a chapel because only he can give that.
  • Thanks for the warnings. We are planning a trip to California either next spring or the following spring. We were planning to head out in mid February. Because we will be covering a lot of territory we will be visiting this fall and we need to be in Indian Wells by Mar 4 or there about we were going to take I-40 for much of the route once we get to Memphis. Might have to rethink and go out by way of I-10 and reverse on the trip to Florida by about April 20th.
  • April is actually a great month for the South Rim. Your timing is good. Traveling there you will go through some of the lower desert which will be in bloom. I love No Arizona.
  • With weather you take your chances. We were there in February one year and wore shorts. We've been there in April in beautiful weather.
  • junmy3 wrote:
    The wife and I are thinking about going to the Grand Canyon in early April 2019. We have a 30'TT. We tow it with a F250. It is only two wheel drive. Is it advisable to go that time of the year. We are from Middle Georgia and definitely not used to snow. We could handle the cold weather if not too extreme.


    Elevation is the key here - If going get a Reservation as it will be FULL.

    South Rim is just plain Popular in April.

    Best of Luck,
  • We went there in April one time. It snowed more than once.Temps anywhere between 15 and 50. Generally speaking, the roads were still clear.
  • Gotta remember Flagstaff is 7000' up, spring comes late that high. weather could be anything.
  • There can be some spring snow storms in April around Flag and the Colorado Plateau. Most are short lived and the sun comes out. The worst that happens is you have wait a day or so for the snow to melt.
  • We visited the Grand Canyon one year in early-mid March. It was not our intention to go to the canyon, but when we pulled into Flagstaff early in the morning, we were behind a snow plow, 4-6 inches of snow had fallen overnight. Our plan was to head to Phoenix, but I told the DW we had never seen the canyon in snow. Had been there several tines, but always in summer.

    We decided to head on up route 380 (I think) out of Flagstaff to the canyon. The road had been plowed, but it began snowing again. Driving the rig in my sig, we only had one bad area on the route, which was a section not protected by trees. The wind was blowing hard and the snow almost became a white-out. But we continued on, SLOWLY, for about 1/2 mile till we got back in the forested area. When we got to the canyon, we were rewarded with sunshine and some beautiful views of the canyon in snow! We toured the southern rim till it started to snow again and then headed back to Flagstaff, again having wind driven snow in the open section.

    Being from PA, I am experienced driving in snow. If, perchance you run into snow, just go EASY on the gas and brake pedals.

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