Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-17-2009, 09:13 PM
 
Location: Phoenix
3,995 posts, read 9,986,320 times
Reputation: 905

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ponderosa View Post
We're having a mild dust storm in Estrella. Unfortunately, no cooling.
I noticed, and now I am leaving my parents' house here in Estrella and have to drive back downtown...hope it is a really mild dust storm. I've been spoiled by not having to drive much for 2 1/2 months with the light rail...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-18-2009, 02:12 PM
 
Location: East Central Phoenix
8,028 posts, read 12,185,927 times
Reputation: 9803
Quote:
Originally Posted by fcorrales80 View Post
I noticed, and now I am leaving my parents' house here in Estrella and have to drive back downtown...hope it is a really mild dust storm. I've been spoiled by not having to drive much for 2 1/2 months with the light rail...
I was a little surprised at this early monsoonal weather as well. I went up to northern Arizona for a few days to escape this damn heat, and it was cloudy up there during the afternoon hours. I even saw some thunderheads forming with verga (rain that doesn't actually hit the ground) falling from the clouds. When I drove back to Phoenix last night, I saw some cloud to cloud lightning in the distant south. This weather reminds me more of July than May!

At the same time, while it is rather unusual to have monsoon type of conditions in May, it's not completely unheard of. Often when May is hotter than normal, it is the result of extensively strong high pressure ridges. When those ridges settle a little to our east, the circulation around the high pressure allow the prevailing winds to become more southerly ... and that can bring early monsoonal moisture to Arizona. However, these early hints of the monsoon in May & June are usually short lived. The real monsoon begins in early to mid July, and lasts until early to mid September.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2009, 12:46 AM
 
382 posts, read 1,351,791 times
Reputation: 260
Enjoy it while you can! Even got some sprinkles on the ground tonight!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2009, 02:50 AM
 
Location: Out there somewhere...a traveling man.
44,557 posts, read 61,296,927 times
Reputation: 125572
This weather right now is actually a soonmon, meaning that the monsoons are soon to be here. Enjoy
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2009, 10:17 AM
 
Location: Metro Phoenix, AZ USA
17,914 posts, read 43,237,795 times
Reputation: 10719
Quote:
Originally Posted by AZnative4Life View Post
Its not a monsoon. A monsoon develops in the high country/White Mountains and crashes into the valley at sundown. traditionally its 3 consecutive days of 55+ dew points. So no monsoons til July sorry.
They've changed the "monsoon rules" -- no more 3 days at 55 dew point. It has an official start date in, I think, mid-June.

The monsoons DON'T just form in the White Mtns and come into the Valley. The season is actually characterized by air circulation coming up from the south, so the storms come from that way, too. Many of the storms that end up in the southeast Valley come up from Pinal County or across from west of South Mountain.

Whether it IS a monsoon storm or not is pretty irrelevant. It looked, sounded and felt like one, and it was very odd for this time of year.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2009, 11:03 AM
 
Location: Sonoran Desert
38,984 posts, read 50,947,172 times
Reputation: 28174
Looks like it was fun in some parts of town last night. We got nothing.

Rare May storm brings wind, power loss
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2009, 12:46 PM
 
Location: Chandler, AZ
105 posts, read 273,914 times
Reputation: 109
The wind was crazy last night when I got out of the restaurant around 9 pm, got a little bit of rain too.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2009, 01:05 PM
 
Location: Phoenix
3,995 posts, read 9,986,320 times
Reputation: 905
I got wet...by the rain...that lasted literally a minute! UGH Isn't this the dry season...May and June? Mother nature ruined my hair with that humidity thing!!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2009, 01:06 PM
 
3,886 posts, read 10,050,967 times
Reputation: 1486
I think it reminds us of the monsoons because of the early heat and any storm at all. lol We are use to not seeing rain for months at a time when it's hot. Didn't it rain last year at this time but cooled us down to like 70 in an hour? I love those storms! But it stayed hot last night and got dusty with the wind like a monsoon. I too was feeling a little weather baffled. lol Speaking of:

Just a question, when it rains it reports humidity in the 90's here on the weather reports, is that because it is actually raining at the time? Anyone know? I'll see 40% humidity in monsoon but during the storms while it's actually raining I will look and it will say 92 or 94%. Just a stupid girl weather question for you guys. Um, I use "weather underground" if that helps. This always confuses me when people talk about our low humidity, because I've seen high humidity readings. Thanks
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2009, 01:08 PM
 
Location: Phoenix
3,995 posts, read 9,986,320 times
Reputation: 905
Quote:
Originally Posted by twiggy View Post
I think it reminds us of the monsoons because of the early heat and any storm at all. lol We are use to not seeing rain for months at a time when it's hot. Didn't it rain last year at this time but cooled us down to like 70 in an hour? I love those storms! But it stayed hot last night and got dusty with the wind like a monsoon. I too was feeling a little weather baffled. lol Speaking of:

Just a question, when it rains it reports humidity in the 90's here on the weather reports, is that because it is actually raining at the time? Anyone know? I'll see 40% humidity in monsoon but during the storms while it's actually raining I will look and it will say 92 or 94%. Just a stupid girl weather question for you guys. Um, I use "weather underground" if that helps. Thanks
I am interested too, I don't want flat hair again!!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top