Location
White Mountain Lake is in east-central Arizona, in Navajo County. It is located about 9 miles north of Show Low and about 9 miles south of Taylor-Snowflake.
Coordinates are 34°21′19″N 109°59′45″W
Elevation
White Mountain Lake, AZ is at about 6100′ elevation.
Population
2022 Census
Population: 2,700 people
2010 census: 2,205 people, 922 households, and 590 families living in WML.
Many residents are seasonal and go elsewhere for part of the year.
Climate
Summer High: the July high is around 88 degrees, but can get above 90 sometimes
Winter Low: the January low is around 22, but can get below 0 occasionally
Rain: averages 14 inches of rain a year
Snow: averages 18 inches of snow a year
Government & Districts
Government
White Mountain Lake is an unincorporated town in Navajo County.
Districts
“District” is a word you hear here a lot. Road district, lake district, irrigation district, fire district. Here is a rather high-level look at it all.
Lake District
The Lake District is actually called the White Mountain Lake County Recreation Improvement District (WMLCRID), but you might hear it more commonly referred to as the “Lake District” or the “Rec District”.
The Lake District was created in 1993 and is made up of about 3400 properties whose owners pay the Special Use Tax. When you look up your parcel on the Navajo County Parcel viewer, look under District Charges and if you see White Mtn Lakes Rec (28333), then you pay this tax.
Taxpayers who pay the White Mtn Lakes Rec tax have rights to access our private White Mountain Lake.
Please visit the WMLCRID “Lake District” websitehttps://www.wmlcrid.org/ for a lot more information.
Road District
The White Mountain Lake Special Road District can be seen regularly watering, grating, and graveling our dirt roads in the area.
Irrigation District
The Irrigation District owns Silver Creek and the land that White Mountain Lake fills. Per a contract with the Lake District (WMLCRID), the Irrigation District keeps the lake depth above a certain minimum height so those with lake access can enjoy it.
Fire District
The “Fire District” is another name heard a lot in our community, but if you’re not familiar with the history, it’s confusing.
White Mountain Lake used to be part of the White Mountain Lake Fire District. The district boundaries included our community plus some areas beyond. (Come look at the maps in the Community Center.)
In 2018, our fire coverage changed over to Timber Mesa Fire & Medical. Their boundaries cover not only WML, but also Show Low, Linden and more.
So when you hear “fire district” up here, it could mean one of two things:
1) The old White Mountain Lake Fire District boundaries (usually it’s this one), or
2) The new Timber Mesa Fire & Medical District
White Mountain Lake is covered by Station 19, which is on Silver Lake Blvd, south of Silver Creek Dr. As a landmark, you can see the red tower beacon flashing in the night.
They are staffed 24-hrs with fire and ambulance coverage and when our station is called out to an emergency, then personnel from either Linden or Show Low may move in closer to us to provide back up coverage.