Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[azbackpackr]

Oh yeah. We lived on Limberlost, and the Rillito was right behind where we lived. When the water came up big we'd rush out to watch it go by. With a really good monsoon (or winter storm), it would go up really high, then gradually go down, until after a week or so it was gently flowing, just like a regular creek. Then I'd take my 3 kids, and we'd go play in it. There was an island with trees on it in the middle of it, right by where we lived but it washed away in the '93 flood (which some say was bigger than the '83 flood.) It was sandy and you could wade and splash in it.

[chumley]

I think we tend to remember the stormy days more than those that weren't stormy. Of course, if your first years in Phx were 83-84 then you experienced two of the wettest monsoon seasons ever (at the airport ... valleywide data can change dramatically from one spot to another).

We have had several dry monsoon years in the valley recently, but not really statistically dry. There have been several periods just as dry as it has been recently. And while I too love some good monsoon storms rolling through the afternoons, and remember many of the "best" ones, it's easier to forget that there were plenty of "boring" days in those summers that were not very memorable.

Here's a link to the wettest and driest monsoons at PHX: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/twc/monsoon/monsoon_phx.php

[azbackpackr]

That's a neat chart, that you can click around and compare Tucson, Phoenix, Yuma, etc. And it does show a lot of variation over the years.

When I first arrived in Tucson it was in Sept. of '86. I knew nothing of summer thunderstorms, having grown up in San Diego. The monsoon was just winding down. Someone told me about it, but it was not until the following summer that I actually experienced it. That was before they had put in all the drains, too. I remember the old car we had getting stalled out at the corner of 1st Avenue and Prince Rd., where there was always a giant lake.

They spent years building those drains, and it really did help a lot. I did kind of miss driving down the street and purposely hitting a puddle and getting people on the sidewalk all soaking wet, though... ;)

[kevinweitzel75]

We lived on Limberlost, and the Rillito was right behind where we lived.

We lived off Shuemaker and that was the second wash that was only a couple blocks down the road. We used to watch cars fall in when the bank washed out at a junk yard just on the other side.

[joebartels]

I think we tend to remember the stormy days more than those that weren't stormy.

agreed!

Also believe the addition or improvement of storm drains to streets has made a difference. Seems the valley was an instant lake back in the mid 80's after each storm.

[kevinweitzel75]

Scottsdale Rd. still floods, I think. Can always count on that.

[Jim]

Cooler than normal for Flagstaff, Tucson, Phoenix and Yuma.
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/twc/climate/monthly/may11.php
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/fgz/News/May2011.pdf

and slightly wetter than normal for Flag. Our average high for today is 74, and we'll struggle to make 70. 73 is forecast for Friday, so the cold weather continues. It was only in the low 60s Sunday and Monday. Might be in the high 70s over the weekend before yet another cool down next week. Looking forward to visiting Arizona over the weekend. It will be good to get back to Tucson.

[chumley]

It's been a very pleasant spring in the valley. I can hardly remember a May with fewer days in triple digits.

[Jim]

I'd still like to know where these warmer temps are? The ones the climate prediction centers have been saying would occur this La Nina spring. April and May were below normal. June better deliver!

[Jim]

Did anyone notice that Tucson had some record low dew points in May? Yesterday, Tucson had a dew point of -11 with a humidity of 2%. It was 96 at the time. It didn't happen at the same time, but that would be a combination of the highest temp Flagstaff has had since I lived here (96 on July 4, 2007) and the lowest RH (a few times in June of 2007). Flag's highest recorded temp is 97. This probably isn't too significant for Tucson.

Still cold at night, our low was 29 last night in Flagstaff. This is the latest into June I remember Flagstaff consistently having lows in the 20s. It was 28 on the 7th, 27 on the 3rd and 29 on the 4th.

[johnlp]

The early mornings have been cool in the valley too. Very unusual for this time of year. At least it seems that way to me.

[Jim]

It was cold at Catalina SP last weekend. Nice, but cold when trying to sleep. I think we were probably in the low to mid 50s in that bowl that the park sits in. Cold air comes off the mountain and settles there, so it can be chillier than other places nearby.

[Jim]

High of 77 around the old staff today. It felt really warm given how it's been, but we were actually a degree below the normal high of 78.

[te_wa]

looks like the monsoon has been active over here all day. neighbor's flag has been blowing west since this a.m.

[chumley]

Happy first day of the 2011 monsoon!

With nary a sign of a shift in the prevailing wind, nor an increase in moisture in the forecast through at least next weekend ... even in the eastern parts of the state ... it looks like dry and hot will be the story for a while.

[Jim]

Really!? And to think I was out hiking and enjoying the nice, warm dry weather we're having. It's finally been over 80. Wind isn't too bad, either. Who knows, in two weeks, storms could be rolling around.

[chumley]

I recall 2010 as the windiest Spring in Flag. No, I have no data to support this, just my recollection which is highly subjective and very much influenced by frustration over conditions at the time, and my memory of those events. Depending on what you looked at there could be different qualifiers for 'windiest". I know we had a 64 MPH wind day on the 29th of May this year, but we seemed to have far more winds storms in 2010, and they might have had high winds, but it seemed that they weren't as extreme as the 29th. 2010 had a ton of I-40 closures and dust storms. 2009 didn't seem very windy, especially when those freak rains came in. 2008 was windy, but maybe no more so than normal for Flagstaff, it just seemed that way compared to 2007. It's all memory and that is subjective.

I suggest wunderground and looking at customized time frame for historical records. Compare the number of days with gust over a certain threshold in this year vs past year, or the peak gust for certain years. Or, contact the NWS directly.

That quote is from the Horseshoe 2 thread, but seemed more appropriate here. While they haven't published statistics for Flagstaff, NWS PHX released the wind stats for Sky Harbor. Only the 11th windiest down here. It's measured as average speed over the whole month. Not sure if peak gusts factor into the average, or just sustained speeds.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/psr/pns/2011/Ju ... Spring.php

[joebartels]

thx I was very curious...

Are there statistics for wind?
Seems like this has been the windiest month ever in the valley.

This was the 11th windiest spring on record and the windiest spring since 1983

Figures since I got here in 1986. This page must round up.

[azbackpackr]

We sure could use a strong monsoon start this year in the mountains, not a spit-and-start, not a lot of dry lightning, etc. Maybe I should talk to my Hopi acquaintances about a rain dance. Oh, I bet they are already working on that...

[Jim]

Any rain at this point would be nice. So we can get rid of all the pine pollen. I've never seen it this bad.