HikeArizona.COM

The endless chatter of weather.

Got slammed last night briefly, but standing water in yard and streets were running. Approaching was quite beautiful, the setting sun turning the rain orange and a weird rainbow/ sun dog in it briefly. No pics as roofs of houses obscured part of it.

I just heard there was a monumental flash flood in Grand Canyon on the 9th, affecting several river running parties, including both commercial and private. Hardest hit was at National Canyon, a commercial trip. They had to grab their PFDs and run for the boats. Other boaters coming down the next day said it was eerie floating by and seeing all their stuff lying around in the mud. Apparently the storm also hit Seligman pretty hard. The boating parties camped at Tuckup and Fern Glen also hard hit. At Tuckup they lost their kitchen, but were able to recover most of it. Those in the canyon said hurricane force winds, silver dollar-sized hail and the hardest rain they had ever seen, lasting for over an hour. They said that instead of the usual waterfalls off the rim, that the entire rim became a pour-over, including large rocks. Two women were helicoptered out. One with lacerations and one with a broken clavicle. Both had been hit by rocks.

Diamond Creek flashed again in this storm, and the USGS gauge washed out for a second time this summer. I am scheduled to drive there Wed. and Thurs this week, but my company will send me to Pearce Ferry if Diamond isn't open yet. It's amazing, though, how quickly the Hualapai heavy equipment operators can get their road open after a blow-out!

It continues to be a fun and interesting summer!

We've had big flash flooding in NJ since Friday, including a parade of floating parked cars yesterday that's making the news. Depending what happens the next couple days, we could hit up to 20" of rain in a five-week interval.

NWS PHX just posted this fun infostat:

Looking at a cumulative average of precipitation around the Phoenix metro, 2018 ranks as the 2nd wettest (to date) since 1990! Certainly one of the more active summers in recent memory.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo just opened on Saturday after being closed 4 days for cleanup after last weeks Hail storm which had baseball size hail. 5 animals were killed or died from hail related injuries and 14 people were injured at the zoo alone. There are still cars in the parking lot damaged by the hail. The plane they have by the elephants is roped off and the windscreen is busted. The fuselage also has large dents. Most of the buildings have skylights still boarded up and roof repairs of the buildings are on going.

@MtnBart01
Wow! After reading your post I looked at a couple news articles and a YouTube video of that event. Holy schmoly! [ youtube video ]

It has rained at my home the past couple of days, a little over 10' of rainfall for the year.

Good grief, I listed 10 feet of rain for the year instead of 10 inches. Incidentally I made arrangements to reroof my house.

I've had 3.7" of rain at my house so far in August, bringing me up to 8.0" for the year

For those in a position to do so, and on the off chance they read this, today (Sunday) and Monday appear to be excellent days for Humphrey's Peak, and other San Francisco Peaks hikes, as well as those in the volcanic field such as Kendrick. 0% chance of storms today, and only 10% at 12,000' Monday.

@Jim_H
I guess I will give it a shot tomorrow. It really depends on how early I get up how I will do it.

Jim_H wrote:only 10% at 12,000' Monday.

10% strikes again! Looks sorta stormy on the radar. (And it might not have stormed but just looking at the sky in the area yesterday I would have never suggested that the chance was zero).

chumley wrote: ↑Aug 20 2018 12:39 pm

Jim_H wrote:only 10% at 12,000' Monday.

10% strikes again! Looks sorta stormy on the radar. (And it might not have stormed but just looking at the sky in the area yesterday I would have never suggested that the chance was zero).

I wasn't able to check the radar yesterday, but the NWS had no chance of storms posted for the 11,798' point forecast. Maybe they bumped if after I wrote my post. I feel bad if Larry went today, as the NWS bumped 10% to 20% and there are some storms near the Peaks on the radar and in the webcam. We were all really lucky a few weeks ago!

It isn't currently raining here in NJ, which is unusual for the last couple months. The Passaic River is lapping at the edge of the parking lot at work, so it's out of spare capacity. We'll find out if it's possible to drown Poison Ivy.

@Jim_H
I went today and turned around after the second false summit. I kept hiking during the rain but then it turned to hail. Lots of thunder and some lightning.
I will post pictures tomorrow as I am tired.

@RowdyandMe
Well, at least you got up pretty far. Sorry that storm happened.

Is anyone else up early watching this impressive lightning storm come through downtown and uptown? Lots of close (to me) cloud to ground lightning!

A storm of biblical proportions is going on right now in my neighborhood near Oro Valley. The official Pima County rain gauge across the street from my subdivision has recorded 2.5 inches of rain in the last hour with no signs of letting up. I'm just now waiting for an ark to float past.

@SpiderLegs
Rain that hard turns everything into an ark if it continues long enough.

Final tally from the Pima County rain gauge across the street was 3.07" in just over an hour. Did the storm make it up to Phoenix?

@SpiderLegs Not that I could tell, but the dust from it's outflow seemed to reach the south valley around 7 PM.