Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[Jim]

It's dried back out here pretty quickly and last night the temperature dropped off pretty fast as the sun went down. It almost felt like it was September, not July. What do you know, some humidity is actually a good thing since it helps stabilize the temperature. The sky at sunset looked like January, not July. It was turning that cold, dry gray it does when the air is really dry.It was really unusual, or it seemed odd at least, when I was out side cooking at 9PM and there was a cool wind blowing. That didn't feel like early July at all. We might have a return to some storms later in the week.

[chumley]

Yeah there was a little push of monsoonal flow last week, but I still stand by my assertion that the "seasonal wind shift" hasn't actually occurred yet. Elizabeth didn't even get a drop of rain from Alex because the trough over the west coast is so strong and dry that it couldn't push west. I am expecting that to change later this week. Might even break the old dew point rules next weekend...

I was surprised last night when I went out to walk Kai as it was significantly nicer than Friday night. Something like 88 degrees versus 103 at 9pm. And much drier. It should make it half-pleasant for watching fireworks in the valley tonight instead of gawdawfulhotandhumid. You know, relatively speaking.

[azbackpackr]

Yeah, if I had bet the bank I sure would have lost! NOT A DROP from Hurricane Alex! However, this turn of weather events made for an especially pleasant 4th of July weekend. It often rains here on the 4th of July. We had our fireworks yesterday, as did Show Low, and Sunrise Ski Park is having theirs tonight. Nice and dry, but it does cool off at night.

I was counting days and realized my summer of fun is half over. I am temporarily working at the dude ranch, just for the holidays, although I will probably work there off and on in the coming weeks, but mostly my time has been my own this summer. I already am feeling sad about its ending. Summer is just way too short. I was thinking how nice it would be if I could follow the sun, and move on down to the desert for awhile in the late fall, and then maybe on to New Zealand for the southern Hemisphere summer...

[Jim]

It looks like we slipped back 2 weeks, with not a cloud in the sky today. It is really nice out, but rain might come back by week's end.

[Nighthiker]

Cicada's are singing out on the desert. I have noted in the past that hummingbirds appear more frequent after the monsoons have started.

[azbackpackr]

I really thought it would rain in Eagar today. It may have rained up on Baldy but not here. The clouds built up, the wind came up, but then, it all went away, and the sun came out again.

[Jim]

It looks and feels like monsoon season again. No rain nearby, but it is araound. Better chances over the next few days. I might just summit Elden tomorrow, instead of doing an Elden-Sunset-Brookbank-Upper Oldham-Elden loop.

[azbackpackr]

The forecast calls for 50% chance of thunderstorms here tomorrow.

[Jim]

They reduced it here to 40% for the next few days. Hopefully, we'll get some rain somewhere around here. Lightning would be great, too. The dew point is up to near 50 degrees, so there is surface moisture around to get the virga from the high base storms to the ground. I'd like to get a nice heavy downpour at my place around 3pm today. 20 minutes worth and about 1/2 an inch. Can I order that?

[sirena]

I was in the Santa Ritas the last couple of days and it rained several times, but no thunder or lightning. I actually used my umbrella for rain, not sun!

[chumley]

Looks like a good shower on the west side of the SF Peaks / Hart Prairie today. Doesn't appear to have affected Schultz Fire area much.

[azbackpackr]

Hiked 17 miles on the Overland Trail today. Got rained on after lunch, but only a little bit. Seems I walked past where the storm was going to be. It stormed there, and then when I was walking back it was just drizzling, but it sure was muddy! It had rained pretty hard in that area.

[Jim]

Rain!!Its raining at my dwelling. Not much, but a good 5 minute downpour!

[azbackpackr]

Yup, here too. I had to stop raking and come in the house and look at HAZ.

[chumley]

It rained at my house in Tempe! Ok, so I wasn't home. And I didn't even have my gauge out. But the alley has one fresh set of tire tracks visible, which would only be possible if there was a quick burst of rain to "rake" the dust.

Under the "old" rules, today is only the first day PHX has recorded an average dew point of over 55. Should probably happen again tomorrow. Unlikely on Monday and into most of next week. Looking like next weekend before the moisture picks up again.

BTW its been hot, humid, and miserable here lately. I'm ready for some serious rain.

[PaleoRob]

Got a good little shower this afternoon. Got the waterfall going off of the rim. First real rain we've had in a while.

[azbackpackr]

It's so refreshing!

[Jim]

I got caught in a storm on Elden today. When I got to the top, the gauge near the base of the tower had 0.76 inches of rain in it. Now, the gauge is about 30 feet south of the tower and that might have had an effect on the accuracy, but it seemed about right. Every where else around the gauge is open for some distance and even though the rain came in from the north it seemed to fall straight down so that the tower probably had no real impact on the accuracy of the gauge. I'm sure you cared about those details.

[azbackpackr]

I was mtn. biking today with some folks--we went WAY up on the mtn. near Reservation Lake, (but in the NF). We rode 15 miles and got back to the vehicles before any rain started. When we drove away, I headed south, toward Buffalo Crossing. Right away it was POURING rain for a few miles.

[chumley]

According to the "old" dewpoint rules, both Phoenix and Tucson are on their fourth consecutive day above 55° and 53° respectively, making Friday, July 9 the start of the monsoon in both cities.

The whole "season" thing is stupid anyway. It's like "winter" always starts on December 1st (or is it the 20th/21st? :STP: ), but that doesn't matter nearly as much as when the first lasting snowfall occurs. The same applies in this case. June 15 is the dumbest arbitrary date ever. Even the dew points can be misleading (at least here in the desert) as it might be a couple of weeks of this misery before any substantial storms actually drop measurable rain. I do believe most of the high-country has already experienced at least a few showers.