Are Severe Thunderstorms like this normal ----even for monsoon season (Phoenix: rain, floor)

[Bummer]

Originally Posted by ivanabacowboy

And of course...no matter how hot it gets...remember you still don't have to shovel it! LOL!!!!!

EXCELLENT POINT, ivanabacowboy! ! ! ! !

[NytoPhx]

Wow its a heavy downpour in Tempe right now. Anybody else getting this? This must put us close to 7 inches of rain for the summer. I didn't realize I was moving to South Florida...

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by NytoPhx

Wow its a heavy downpour in Tempe right now. Anybody else getting this? This must put us close to 7 inches of rain for the summer. I didn't realize I was moving to South Florida...

We got a little here in downtown and uptown Phoenix. Three different showers about 20 minutes apart that lasted just a few minutes each. Heavy at times, however.

[HX_Guy]

Yea we got about a 1/4" in 15 minutes here in NW Phoenix.

[bigjdotcom01]

We got a touch over 1/2" here in South Gilbert from a storm that hit around 11:15pm last evening. I am 11.5" for the year at my place near Higley/Chandler Heights.

[cap1717]

It's been quite a "monsoon" season here in Phoenix. . . I have lived here for 30 + years, mostly in the north Scottsdale, North Phoenix, and Cave Creek areas, have measured more than 26 " of rain in my yard (in Cave Creek) one year in the mid -80's, I think, and seen rainstorms so "dense" that I could not see the house from the barn. . . a matter of several hundred feet. But. . . I have never seen the kind of wide spread wind damage to trees that has occured this year. . . This is the first time, to my knowledge, that Encanto Park has been closed due to storm damage. Makes me think that the global warming that is causing hurricanes to be "stronger" may be affecting us desert dwellers, at least in wind intensity, too.

[ibarrio]

Hit hard in Surprise (North of Bell and Parkview). We had Hail !!

[borborygmi]

Originally Posted by ivanabacowboy

And of course...no matter how hot it gets...remember you still don't have to shovel it! LOL!!!!!

And you can't ski on dirt, either.

Personally, I know I'd rather have that option than have to throw my life in the can for 6 months due to excessive heat. But then again, I'm a winter sports aficionado, and I don't really understand those who aren't - you don't know what you're missing, IMO.

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by cap1717

It's been quite a "monsoon" season here in Phoenix. . . I have lived here for 30 + years, mostly in the north Scottsdale, North Phoenix, and Cave Creek areas, have measured more than 26 " of rain in my yard (in Cave Creek) one year in the mid -80's, I think, and seen rainstorms so "dense" that I could not see the house from the barn. . . a matter of several hundred feet. But. . . I have never seen the kind of wide spread wind damage to trees that has occured this year. . . This is the first time, to my knowledge, that Encanto Park has been closed due to storm damage. Makes me think that the global warming that is causing hurricanes to be "stronger" may be affecting us desert dwellers, at least in wind intensity, too.

26"? Are you sure your fain gauge was working correctly?

As for the winds, I've seen even worse here in Phoenix. Back in 1995, were was a recorder wind gust of 150MPH at Deer Valley airport. I remember a lot of damage to buildings and such back then, much more then what we saw this summer.

[cap1717]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

26"? Are you sure your fain gauge was working correctly?

As for the winds, I've seen even worse here in Phoenix. Back in 1995, were was a recorder wind gust of 150MPH at Deer Valley airport. I remember a lot of damage to buildings and such back then, much more then what we saw this summer.

Yes, the 26 inches was accurate, for my yard near what is now the intersection of Dynamite and Tatum. . . . This was before Tatum went through north of the C.A.P. canal. . . and it WAS a very unusual year. . . I was able to grow both tomatos and sweet peppers all summer long, had a great crop of peaches in the early summer (at least the ones the birds didn't get) and my petunias went all summer without a problem. . . can't remember exactly which year that was, but I have not seen one like it since. I don't remember the winds that you speak of at Deer Valley, though I have been in some mighty stongs "gusts" there, once while landing a small Piper. . . . the wind thing is usually more localized in one or another part of the valley, in my experience. . . than the most recent storms that brought down large trees from North Phoenix to south of Downtown. . . .