Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[big_load]

Well, I should point out that I was working outside 11-16 hours a day.

[outdoor_lover]

@big_loadIt's a little different when you haven't been in it for awhile....

[chulavista]

I'm a native, this is my favorite time of year and I hate to see it end!

[kevinweitzel75]

I don't mind the monsoons to much. Get a little tired of the humidity (work in the a/c field ). I enjoy the winter months the best, especially this December. Got drawn for the rut deer hunt, only 42 permits this year.

[azbackpackr]

We sure have had a lot of rain up here in the White Mtns. this summer. Right now it's pouring pretty good, in fact. Everything is really green. Too bad all I do is work.

[Jim]

I wouldn't snow bird, as I love the heat in June and before it gets humid, but if I was retired or had more time off and more money I would probably leave for the peak of the monsoon season. It tends to start slow, but once it gets going it's miserable. Having my yard a muddy mess I can't even walk out into is a real pain. Yes, I'd rather we be drier and look like eastern California. In general, more winter rain and snow, and less summer rain would be preferably.

[cactuscat]

Wow! I drove through the Anthem/New River area during the height of the monster storm Tuesday evening ... I've never seen anything like it in 25 years of monsoons - at least I've darn sure never attempted to drive through anything like it! I was in a nice big 4wd Frontier, thank goodness - never would have tried it in my little car. I crept by the long line of vehicles pulled over along I17, but did eventually get off on New River Rd and wait out some of the worst of it for 10 or 15 minutes. It was pretty awesome to see the washes and rivers flooding like that ... I didn't have to drive through any running washes though.
Finally escaped that storm cell, only to run into another doozy between Sedona and Flag ... the drive from Flag to Phx took me under two hours - the drive from Phx to Flag took about three. Then I had to drive slow from there back to the Canyon because I am so worried about elk in the road ... looong day.

[outdoor_lover]

Anthem got hit really hard....There was "rivers" of water running through people's houses....

[Jim]

Bet those people aren't so keen on the season any longer, born in state or not.

[Jim]

Big mud and debris flow coming off a part of Black Mesa today and flowing out on to US 160. ADOT had a loader out there clearing the road and opening the drainage ditch. More wet continues.

[big_load]

Big mud and debris flow coming off a part of Black Mesa today and flowing out on to US 160.

Probably full of interesting stuff, too.

[Jim]

It appeared to be mostly greasy mud and small wooden debris, mostly likely not off the mesa itself, but outflow from a valley behind the shelf in front of the mesa. It was in an area by the clay flats.

[chumley]

It's hot.

:tt: :bdh: :yuck:

[Jim]

It beautiful :STP: :FG: :SB: :wlift: :budrose: :worthy: .

[azbackpackr]

It's damp and rainy, one of the rainiest summers I've seen in a long time up here. Can't keep the grass mowed fast enough!

Oddly, despite all the rain, Mexican Hay Lake is dry, I suspect due to the very dry winter, and to runoff from the Wallow Fire. I really wish the FS had the resources to dredge it out, as they plan to do for Hulsey on Escudilla (which is a much smaller lake). Mexican Hay Lake was pretty special for birds. There used to be fishing there, too, which seems unbelievable now.

[Jim]

Really, really, hazy here, must be from a fire, but no smoke that I can smell. It looks real dirty, so much so that I can't see the strata on Black Mesa. It reminds of the hazy conditions of late August back east. Agathala had the kind of haze in front of it as do some of the monuments in Washington DC when you're driving around the beltway on I-95. Weird.

[chulavista]

Holy moly, the air is really heavy here right now. Supposedly according to the radar, we have rain headed our way. Whether it makes it off Table Top Mountain into the river valley is another story. But right now it's muuugggggyyyy!!!!

[Jim]

I can't find the link and am too lazy to look for it, but the San Diego NWS office had a presentation up last week which talked about a developing El Nino. I guess that is good, but I would prefer normal or neutral conditions. We'll see how winter plays out in 7 months. I was wondering if the dry spell up here might be linked to something, but it probably isn't. I remember the near absence of monsoon in 2009. Ah, what a summer.

[big_load]

It sure feels like an el nino year in NJ.

[chumley]

If I recall from what I read (like Jim, I don't remember where, and am too lazy to look it up) the el niño has already begun and is expected to peak before the new year. I don't know what that will mean for winter in Arizona since usually it is the late winter/spring months that get the most precip through the el niño.

The current lack of Atlantic hurricanes leads one to believe that el niño is already a factor in the global weather pattern. Not that anybody is complaining except for the sensationalist news media.

I'd say that we've also had an unusually active monsoon (at least there have been very few dry periods overall, but I'm not sure how that relates to the ENSO pattern either).

And despite the relatively high activity, personally, I haven't received that much rain this year at my house, though I know some in the valley who are well above normal.