Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[Alston_Neal]

I think it's NBC news headline

If it was Fox it would be "The Drought, Fake News"

[Jim]

@Alston_Neal
If it were CNN or MSNBC it would be, "Drought murders millions; Trump, White Supremacy to blame".

[chumley]

Mercifully, the National Weather Service has announced the arrival of the North American Monsoon. Expect higher humidity, moderating temperatures, heavy rain, and rapidly improving wildfire conditions. It all starts today!

[hikeaz]

After the driest monsoon season in Arizona’s history, ASU professor of geographical sciences Randy Cerveny is hopeful the state will see more rain this year. Despite the monsoon season’s calendar start date on Tuesday, it’s going to take time for it to take effect. Cerveny doesn’t expect to see rain until the first or second week of July, if the state is going to get any. “We won’t expect to see moisture, we won’t expect to see thunderstorms, even dust storms really coming into the Valley until we get into July, with rain expected near the end of July,” Cerveny told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

[chumley]

@hikeaz Well, except for that one time when Dr. Cerveny went on KTAR and announced that "This year, we're going to become Seattle" he's generally accurate and following the established science, whereby the average start date over the past 30 years has been July 6th. But, Let's Go June 15! Yay.

[hikeaz]

following the established science

Oh crap! Not THAT again....

[mazatzal]

Let's Go June 15!

You were right! 20+ big rain drops with huge wind squall at my place yesterday and three tree limbs down.

[chumley]

@mazatzal
I was debating with a friend "weather" or not those drops officially qualified as a "trace" in the record books.

[mazatzal]

@chumley
Yep, definitely need proper rain but perhaps it’s a start…

[Alston_Neal]

A friend sent me a photo of an awesome hail storm in the Pinetop/Lakeside area yesterday....

[The_Eagle]

My car got wet driving home from the rim last night. I washed it so it would rain again.

[Jim]

Did anyone notice the 118 high on Thursday at Sky Harbor, or the 117 yesterday? I did. I did. My car thermometer said 119 for the entire time I was driving the 202 around South Mountain getting around Phoenix on my way home from Nevada. I believe it, since it was only 1 degree over the airport, and the road is probably hotter due to the vehicles expelling heat. Had to stop twice as my car's transmission was overheating. That's the Subaru quality people keep raving about!

[Alston_Neal]

@Jim_H
Oh no not the dreaded rock in the heat shield!

[Jim]

@Alston_Neal
Some other marvel of Subaru quality that causes the transmission fluid to get too hot while driving at highway speeds. At least it was 118 and 119, and it cooled off pretty quickly when I pulled over to idle.

[Alston_Neal]

@Jim_H
That is odd though, shouldn't happen. Trani cooler on it?

[big_load]

As much as I love AZ, I'm happy to forego the current heat wave and fire season.

[Jim]

@Alston_Neal
No idea. I had the fluid changed when I took it in yesterday. The horn died recently, and when they fixed that the steering column transmission paddles stopped working, so I brought it back for that and had them deal with the transmission, too. Also, the right front wheel well guard fell off while driving down I-10, which was weird, so I fixed that. I might be looking for a new vehicle, but the chip shortage has translated to a vehicle shortage.

[chumley]

In the past week eastern and central Arizona has experienced an anomalous increase in showers for mid-June that don't appear to be related to the North American Monsoon. Precipitation chances in Phoenix increase to near 50% tonight and tomorrow, and dew points have been above normal for the past week, and may exceed the old monsoon threshold for the next day or two ... despite not being monsoonal in origin. These are unusual conditions for this time of year in my recollection.

[RedRoxx44]

@chumley
I don't like it because last year the only photos I have of clouds and storms was in late May/ June and then the monsoon never showed up after that.

[chumley]

It's OFFICIAL! (Unofficially).

The 2021 Monsoon has begun in both Phoenix and Tucson according to the old dew point rules. Each airport has recorded three consecutive days above the threshold (55° for PHX, 54° for TUC). PHX, TUC, YUM, FLG have all observed above average dew points for this time of year for more than 10 days now. It seems all will fall below the threshold for the next couple of days, but actual monsoonal flow and accompanying moisture is set to arrive early next week and at this point the forecast trends keep it going for at least 10 days or so. Any moisture in the state is welcome right now, and this forecasted early onset compared to the traditional arrival time is a godsend. (As always, I'll believe it when it happens!)