Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[sirena]

Mr. Sirena and I drove up the Oracle Control Road today and got sprinkled on a couple of times , and it looked like there was a bunch of rain toward the Galiuros and Pinalenos. It smelled wonderful! Once we came over to the Catalina Highway side, there was no sign of rain.

[Nighthiker]

The saguaro flowers have gone to seed. Now if the cicada's start singing, monsoon will start soon.

[JimmyLyding]

Just saw a doppler shot of the Southwest, and it looks like there's rain from the Chiricahuas to well north of the White Mountains with the heavist concentration being in SW New Mexico. Rain baby rain!

[PrestonSands]

Monsoon arrived in the Chiricahuas and the Dragoons yesterday. It hit Safford and Clifton tonight with lots of rain. Yay!!!

[azbackpackr]

We didn't get very much here in town. I sure hope it rained on that Paradise Fire, though. Some of the peeps who were signed up for that Bear Wallow backpack (TUB meetup group) have bailed because they didn't want to deal with it or its smoke.

There was a sweet rainbow yesterday, right after sunset.

[Jim]

It is overcast here in Flagstaff, and it looks miserable over the Peaks with a huge dark cloud. No rain yet, but I'm hoping it waits until next week unless it's just a showy storm.

[Jim]

Pin-pointing an exact date is never easy, but I think the monsoon is officially here in Flagstaff. We've had east winds in parts of town the last 2 days and I have been smelling the dog food plant from a couple of miles west of it. Jake will understand that. Today we have good sized thunderstorms floating around SW of town around Sycamore Canyon and Garland Prairie, and also Kendrick Park. Dew Points are low, but unless there is an east movement of the moisture I expect more storms and rain around town the next few days. Hopefully I'll get a good rain around my apartment. A nice rain would be good in the Schultz Burn, too. Not so much on the steep slopes, but on the flat areas to promote grass regrowth.

[azbackpackr]

IT IS POURING RAIN RIGHT NOW HERE IN EAGAR!!!!!!

[azbackpackr]

PS, I had to put my sweats on and turn on the heat a little! Dang it is really coming down cats and dogs!

[chumley]

Well, since you decided to let the official June 15th start date not count, I would assume you would stick to the previous standard ... dew points (as opposed to less-offical Jim's Personal Proclamation of the Start of the North American Monsoon)

And according to dewpoints, we're not even close to the start of the monsoon, but we are finally up around the climatological average. I do like hearing about the reports of rain up north either way!

See Tucson NWS Monsoon Tracker site, which includes info specific to PHX, TUC, FLG, and YUM.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/twc/monsoon/monsoon_tracker.php
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/twc/monsoon/dew ... er_flg.php

[azbackpackr]

Ok, another PS. I will bet you right now, that the storm they call Alex will greatly affect the weather here in about a week or so. I am going to pay close attention because I don't want to be up on Baldy when it hits. We tend to get a lot of rain out of these Gulf hurricanes.

[Jim]

I don't really like the dew point indicator. I like the "thunderstorm in vicinity resulting from a monsoon flow" start. Somewhere back in the thread I think I stated that as my standard. The arbitrary June 15 start date makes as much sense as Summer being from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Wasn't it really dry and hot back in 2002 or 2003 so that the monsoon started at the end of July? Hardly seems intelligent to make a season linked to a variable wind shift start on a specific date.

[joebartels]

the less-official...
I almost fell off my chair laughing. Whew, good stuff!

He's no Jim Howell(anyone remember him) but I like the Jim_H report

[azbackpackr]

Well, over here in Eastern Arizona, (which is definitely not up north ), it is raining, and we have had thundershowers every day for about 4 or 5 days.

Traditionally, monsoon was supposed to start on el dia de San Juan, which I think is June 24.

I really can't remember how many days it takes to get that moisture up here from those Gulf hurricanes. I am thinking less than a week. I hope it is after the fireworks, anyway.

Anyone who wants to see one of the best fireworks displays in the southwest, show up at the airport in Springerville on July 3rd NOT THE 4th, in the evening. Also the Eagar Fire Dept pancake breakfast, the parade, the BBQ and the rodeo are all being held on the 3rd, not the 4th. This is due to the 4th being on a Sunday, need I say more?

[Jim]

Hey, this looks monsoon like to me, officially sanctioned by the US government or not. There is not a low pressure system moving across AZ, and there is a westward movement of moisture.
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/WCIR3.html

Who was Jim Howell?

[chumley]

Joe- Jim Howell was awful. A weatherman on the old channel 3 ... back when it was Phoenix's ABC affiliate. Maybe that's too far back.
Jim- Whatever. ;)
Elizabeth- Sorry. I certainly know that you are not "up north" as is a common misconception for us desert dwellers when discussing the White Mtns.

Also, there's no good weather data from the White's as I believe that neither St. Johns nor Show Low keep the kinds of records that the other four cities mentioned do. But, I've always thought (by my own version of "Jim's Official Proclamation..." theory) that the monsoon begins in the White Mountains about two weeks ahead of when it reaches the valley.

Of course, that's subject to my own version of whenever I hear thunder vs. whenever I see rain echos on the NM border-area "super-doppler HD 5000 storm tracker 2 million." (previously known simply as "radar")

[Jim]

Joe- Jim Howell was awful. A weatherman on the old channel 3 ... back when it was Phoenix's ABC affiliate. Maybe that's too far back.
Jim- Whatever. ;)

Um, OK, but are the Jim and Joe responses backward?

[azbackpackr]

Chumley, got that right on our lack of really good weather data prediction and gathering here. I look at NOAA every day--sometimes it is spot on, but a lot of the times not, so it's a crap shoot, especially when it comes to winter storm forecasting.

[hippiepunkpirate]

Pin-pointing an exact date is never easy, but I think the monsoon is officially here in Flagstaff. We've had east winds in parts of town the last 2 days and I have been smelling the dog food plant from a couple of miles west of it. Jake will understand that. Today we have good sized thunderstorms floating around SW of town around Sycamore Canyon and Garland Prairie, and also Kendrick Park. Dew Points are low, but unless there is an east movement of the moisture I expect more storms and rain around town the next few days. Hopefully I'll get a good rain around my apartment. A nice rain would be good in the Schultz Burn, too. Not so much on the steep slopes, but on the flat areas to promote grass regrowth.

Haven't experienced the dogfood smell at the house yet, but I think my June 27th prediction was damn accurate! Now let's get some regeneration up on that there mountain!

[Nighthiker]

Sky has been painted with clouds, but no rain out my way.