Unfortunately, I misunderstood the source of the turbulence. Air is being pumped from the high pressure over L.A. into the low over New Mexico, and moving pretty fast.
Conditions on the ground in Taylor, Arizona were exciting (22 knots gusting 32), but right down the runway. But once I climbed up past 8,500 feet, things really got interesting, with 45, 50, and eventually 60 knot (70 mph) winds aloft. It was pretty bumpy, too, as the fast air aloft spun over the merely 30-knot surface flow, so I had to fly pretty slowly, giving me a 30-knot ground speed. I have a lot of fuel, but a four hour trip to Phoenix seems out of hand, especially in the wild turbulence. That, and I hadn't yet gotten to the mountainous terrain; big winds over terrain can mean severe turbulence.
I played around with a few different destinations, to try to at least find something that made progress towards L.A. I looked at Flagstaff, only 87nm away, but again, three hours at 30kts. Finally I settled on Winslow, which was actually downwind. Even with a quartering tailwind, I had the plane pointed 60 degrees left of Winslow to account for the wind, sliding sideways to my destination, and occasionally riding a bucking bull of turbulence.
Getting back into the surface flow, things calmed right back down into the "windy but not insane" regime, and landing at Winslow was uneventful. But it's blowing hard here! Street signs and flagpoles are bending...
Tomorrow's forecast has a much more reasonable flow aloft; the excitement will have moved a couple states east by then.
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