Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[te_wa]

Jim, how is the evening weather near Hump? I was considering a BP for camp on Doyle saddle but i'm now concerned that this late may have some pretty hairy lightning. ideas?

[Jim]

You should be fine today, just a little windy. Might be OK tomorrow. Sunday might be nasty.

[Jim]

Don came ashore in Texas and should affect us this weekend. I remember people saying that the end of July and the first week or so of August is generally the peak of Monsoon activity. Makes me wonder if this weekend will be it, since it should be so wet.

[Jim]

Aside from Wilcox, most areas in SE AZ are below normal to well below normal for the monsoon so far. Doesn't bring high hopes for an above normal season.

In Flagstaff, we received 2.31 inches for July. The mean is 2.40, so we were 0.09" below. More or less normal, statistically speaking. It started a little early this year, and some areas had well over the 2.3", but some had less, as well. 5.94 inches fell in July of 2010. Winslow was well over normal, getting 1.79".

[chumley]

And SE Arizona is in an extreme drought already. They need it most.
http://www.drought.gov/portal/server.pt ... 2&state=AZ

[joebartels]

heck it's worse than extreme, it's "exceptional"

[chumley]

It's actually pretty amazing that Prescott is "normal" and Safford is "exceptional" ... a distance of only 200 miles! But it also illustrates how/why this year's disastrous fires have been in the south and east, while the rest of the state has experienced much smaller, manageable fires.

[hippiepunkpirate]

A little while ago we got a pretty good hail storm (pea sized, maybe slightly larger) for about 20 minutes here at the Sunset Crater visitor center. It rained off and on from ten until noon, then steady and sometimes heavy rain from noon until 2 o'clock. Doesn't look like it's going to stop either. Earlier there was a flash flood warning along highway 89 west of Wupatki...not sure if anything materialized out of it though.

[SkyIslander18]

Not sure what is going on in Safford right now, the sky is angry and the ground is wet! I'm wondering if this is what they call a "monsoon storm"?

[chumley]

The Phoenix Rainfall Index is showing that overall, the valley as a whole is experiencing a perfectly normal monsoon, with .65" of rain so far (normal is .66). But with the exception of a few isolated pockets, most of Arizona is experiencing a dryer-than-normal season so far.

[tibber]

my rain gauge for the week is showing an inch of rain (Bell and 16th street area) with most of it coming last nite. What's left of my summer garden is happy, happy, happy.

[Jim]

The Phoenix Rainfall Index is showing that overall, the valley as a whole is experiencing a perfectly normal monsoon, with .65" of rain so far (normal is .66). But with the exception of a few isolated pockets, most of Arizona is experiencing a dryer-than-normal season so far.

AZrain.png

Last year, the monsoon was so wet that Flagstaff had nearly 250% of normal in July, and 2 or 3 inches of that fell from large storms that dropped over an inch of rain over a widespread area for several hours. Flag is normal this year. Besides, they can't all be well above or the mean would shift up. Now that so much of the Flagstaff area has had rain in the last month, I could use an extended dry period. I got back from a trip to lower elevation on Monday after it had rained here. I could smell the mold/mildew from the wet pine litter and ever since my mold allergy has been killing me. Maybe the flow will stay in SE AZ and NM where it is really needed. I'm tired of the gray overcast days we end up with. Everyday since Saturday has been overcast, humid, and rainy since mid last week. It would be nice to get a dry break like we had earlier last month.

[Jim]

I know I have really enjoyed the series of dry breaks we have been having. SE AZ still had some storms with this most recent one, so places that needed rain got it, while places in northern AZ that have been OK got a refreshing break from the monsoon. Yesterday, I could see big clouds to the south, so I went out and did Elden in expectation of storms today and this week onward. Clouds are in this morning and the dew point is up.

[Jim]

Heavy rain around Flagstaff today, which is good since it's been dry the last 10 days or so. They built up from just north of the Peaks west to the Government Prairie area and moved south to south east over town. The Peaks, Dry Lake Hills, Elden, town and points south all seem to have had a good amount of rain. It might have caused more erosion on Elden, but I guess that is the price you pay. Probably had an inch or so near where I live close to NAU, and about 3/4 to an inch on Elden.

[chumley]

Nice rain on the western rim today too. Happy Jack, Clint's Well, Baker Butte, etc. I saw a shower down below toward Christopher Creek too, and it spit for a few minutes while I was enjoying lunch at the Rimside Grill. The fire at 87/260 was still burning despite the rain. I saw at least 30 fire crews headed out at 8:30am. Can't be very active today!

[PaleoRob]

Lots of clouds down here around the CG valley, but no action in town. Good lightning around 11pm last night towards Coolidge pretty constantly.

[Jim]

Over an inch of rain at Flagstaff airharbor. Seems we're having a pretty good month thanks to today and one other storm. Most places west of here on the rim did well, too. Going south, things thin out. A drying trend starts tomorrow for the week. I like this occasional wet when we have a lot of dry.

[azbackpackr]

Tucson area getting a fair amount of rain. Hiking Wrightson yesterday I was kind of amazed at all the surface water, creeks, and wildflowers.

[chumley]

In Non-Arizona weather news ... a slow-moving storm sat over the NYC area over the weekend, and parts of the area received more rain in 24 hours than the AZ deserts receive all year long. Here's a few highlights:

JFK 7.80"
LaGuardia 6.60"
Newark 6.43"
Central Park 5.81"
Lido Beach, Long Island 10.87"

These from just a "normal" storm, not a hurricane or anything special. Can you imagine what would happen in PHX tried to absorb 7" of rain in 24 hours?

[Jim]

We had 1.08 inches yesterday. First time this summer we had over an inch in a day. We came close earlier in the month. That was at the airport, which, judging by radar at the time and radar storm total estimates yesterday afternoon, was at the drier southern end of the cell movements. I think I had more like 1.5 or over just north of I-40. It rained lightly most of the afternoon and moderately last night around 10, too. Everything is nasty and wet and the forested area behind my apartment stinks like mildew. I know that is good for the trees and plants, since this area is in the middle of a Ponderosa pine forest, but it is far from pleasant to live in when Flagstaff is Florida like.

I was hoping the dry out would be more substantial and start today, but it is stormy around and starting to rain.