Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[chumley]

I wouldn't classify anything on the ground in northern Arizona as "soil".

[azbackpackr]

People from Flagstaff who think 70 is hot should stay far far away from Costa Rica. 70 is COLD in Costa Rica! Right now, my bedroom is probably 90 degrees with a fan going. It really doesn't bother me. I just now went out to buy a ticket at the bus station (for a surfing trip tomorrow to Jacó), walked about 2 miles r/t to buy it, and it is hot and sunny. Doesn't bother me. I think it is below 100 degrees out there right now, though.

I recollect a couple of years in May in the White Mountains when it rained at least once or twice a week, and the tawny grass hills around Springerville turned green. They usually don't turn green until August. And we had no significant fires those summers. May is usually pretty dry.

[Jim]

Largely depends on where you go (and what you consider northern Arizona, when you talk to Liz). Around Flag, and in most of the forested areas of the region, it always seemed like "soil" was more rock and gravel then an accumulation of finer particles, and it was seldom more than 12 to 18" in depth. 18 inches is on the higher end. Only in canyons like Secret Canyon, do you seem to get deep "soil". Up around me, I have soil. Even if it is urban land, moved around by bulldozers and changed from it's original grade and having it's original layers obliterated, there is real soil out here. The range appears to have soil, most of which probably blew off of of from around, Black Mesa.

I remember 2009 as the weird year where we had abundant rain in mid-May, and then aside from 2 or 3 very intense but short lived storms around my apartment, a complete failure of the monsoon, and then fires like the Taylor Fire on the Rim above Sedona, at a time when we normally had no fires due to the typical rains.

[chumley]

I'm starting to think it might never rain again. Will be interesting to see the January numbers later this week. I haven't looked at the historicals, but I could see this being in the top 5 driest Januarys ever.

[azbackpackr]

Ok, so, as I recall there was rain in the desert in the fall, and folks were anticipating pretty good flowers in Feb/March, since an abundance of rain in the fall usually is a precursor to a great wildflower show in the spring. How do you think that's going to turn out this spring?

[outdoor_lover]

We haven't had any really good rain since the beginning of December. The problem is the temperature now, 78. Everything is thinking that it is Spring now and starting to leaf out and bloom. We get a good cold snap and it's all gone and if we don't get some more rain before March, it's going to be an anorexic flower season.

[azbackpackr]

78 in January. Sheesh.

[Jim]

Even though I would prefer we get no more snow where I live, I could do with some more rain. Perhaps a mid-February, around the 16th to the 18th, strong warm moist low. It comes down the coast of CA drops snow over the Sierra, rain and snow over the southern CA valleys and Mountains, moves inland over us, drops rain below 6000' and dense snow above, and then it warms up nicely there after. About 1/2 of an inch out here would be perfect. Seems we use to get those sort of storms, but none this year. Can someone dial one up, for those dates specifically? No earlier, or later.

[chumley]

Well this weekend is the Phoenix Open golf tournament, which draws over 500,000 spectators. In a typical year, the weather always gets cool and rainy for this Chamber of Commerce/Department of Tourism event. The fact that it will be sunny and warm for all those guests proves that it truly is a dry winter!

[Jim]

But where I live, it actually has been pretty moist. In fact, since I moved here on September 30, we've probably had normal to above normal precip. I am practically in Utah, and the mesa causes a lot of the rain, but it's been wet for me.

[azbackpackr]

Can someone dial one up, for those dates specifically? No earlier, or later.

Who better than you for that task? ;)

[Jim]

A dusting of snow up here. I'm not happy about that, but it isn't 6 inches, so that is good.

[chumley]

The January results are in, and it's not great, but not nearly as dry as I thought it was, except in Phx and Yuma.

Flagstaff, avg. temp of 34.3, 4.4 above normal, making it the 6th warmest January since 1898.
Flagstaff, .42", -1.63" below normal, making it ONLY the 20th driest January since 1898.

Prescott, avg. temp of 42.1, 3.3 above normal, 4th warmest since 1948.
Prescott, .1", -1.02 below normal, 9th driest since 1948.

Winslow, avg temp 37.3, 2.1 above normal, 16th warmest since 1898
Winslow, .05", -.46 below normal, 17th driest since 1898.

Phoenix, avg. temp of 58.7, 2.3 above normal, 4th warmest.
Phoenix, TRACE rain, -.91 below normal, tied for the driest on record.

Yuma, avg temp 60.5, 1.8 above normal, 7th warmest.
Yuma, TRACE rain, -.33 below normal, tied for the driest on record.

Tucson, avg tempe 55.6, 3.0 above normal, 4th warmest on record
Tucson, .14", -.80 below normal, 24th driest.

The above/below normal temp and precip values are based only on the most recent 30-years, 1981-2010.

[azbackpackr]

Love seeing the data, thanks. It's interesting!

[chumley]

Looks like next week will feature the next best chance to get something positive out of this winter.

Saturday night/sunday, system #1

Tuesday looking like a much stronger potential

And unsettled weather later in the week too.

Here's to a lot of rain and snow! Flooding, sandbags, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! :GB:

[azbackpackr]

Here's to a lot of rain and snow! Flooding, sandbags, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! :GB:

Tomorrow we begin the mass hysteria of Carnavales in Puntarenas. It's HOT here. Like Tucson in August, with no A/C, except at school, which is too cold!

Apparently there is no record of snow falling anywhere in Costa Rica, despite the fact there is a 12,000+ ft. mountain. Rain, flooding, landslides, sandbags, yes. But not at this time of year. This is summer in Costa Rica.

[hippiepunkpirate]

dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

It's kind of funny you should make this reference, as Ghostbusters has been referenced numerous times lately in some PMs between Jim and I

[outdoor_lover]

Good, I hope we get 3" by next Thursday. I have plans on Friday and we need the rain....

[Jim]

dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

It's kind of funny you should make this reference, as Ghostbusters has been referenced numerous times lately in some PMs between Jim and I

That movie has endless one liners for use everywhere.

[Jim]

So, were these storms as much as promised? Seems Flagstaff had some snow, but not much was there when I was in town yesterday. With less then half the month left and nothing big on the radar, I think the rest of the month will end up being dry. Probably be warmer, too. I think this will be the first year since I moved to Flag (and then out of it) where the December to February period records no official temperatures below zero. Amazing. I wouldn't expect much out of March, as that month is typically drier, and the nights are moderating, too. Basically, here comes the wind. Hey, maybe we'll get lucky and it will be like 2007?