Monsoon, anyone?

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by mortimer

During the summer when the weather maps are animated on the news, you'll see the storms mostly training up from the S-SW to the N-NE. The weather people will refer to that as a "Monsoonal Flow."

I was watching that on the weather news last night, seeing the southerly to northerly flow up over AZ and NM, wondering if perhaps observing what way the wind is blowing on the ground might not be the most reliable way to judge where the moisture is coming from. My understanding is that the monsoonal moisture comes from the Gulf of Mexico and Baja California.

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

I was watching that on the weather news last night, seeing the southerly to northerly flow up over AZ and NM, wondering if perhaps observing what way the wind is blowing on the ground might not be the most reliable way to judge where the moisture is coming from. My understanding is that the monsoonal moisture comes from the Gulf of Mexico and Baja California.

I don't think that either Towanda or I reported the way the wind was blowing on the ground. This is New Mexico -- I watched the storm clouds and the actual precipitation move. I believe that she did the same thing but from a different location.

Of course, the way the storm moves and where the moisture comes from are not necessarily the same thing.

[Devin Bent]

Monsoon
Be gone soon.

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by Devin Bent

I don't think that either Towanda or I reported the way the wind was blowing on the ground.

Well if you're not on the ground then I'll have some of what you are smoking!

I'm referring to the weather satellite. It shows the clouds coming up from northern Mexico.

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

Well if you're not on the ground then I'll have some of what you are smoking!

I'm referring to the weather satellite. It shows the clouds coming up from northern Mexico.

Maybe you are smoking something. You are repeating yourself.

[mortimer]

Devin Bent mentioned:

> ... way the storm moves and where the moisture comes from are not necessarily the same thing.

Right. Some of the moisture comes right up from the ground. It evaporates and transpires from the rain of the previous evening.

Also, as the system pushes N, you get eddy-currents and branch-offs that will move N/E/W so from one's front porch, it's definitely possible to see stuff moving counter to the system.

You can see this as the teeny little puff-clouds grow and merge and blossom into vast cumulonimbus clouds - sometimes high enough to have an "anvil-top."

Also, even if the overall system is moving up from the South, if a storm starts dumping N of you, the *wind* will come from there.

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by mortimer

Devin Bent mentioned:

> ... way the storm moves and where the moisture comes from are not necessarily the same thing.

Right. Some of the moisture comes right up from the ground. It evaporates and transpires from the rain of the previous evening.

Also, as the system pushes N, you get eddy-currents and branch-offs that will move N/E/W so from one's front porch, it's definitely possible to see stuff moving counter to the system.

You can see this as the teeny little puff-clouds grow and merge and blossom into vast cumulonimbus clouds - sometimes high enough to have an "anvil-top."

Also, even if the overall system is moving up from the South, if a storm starts dumping N of you, the *wind* will come from there.

Thanks, Mortimer. I was beginning to think we couldn't even discuss the weather.

P.S. Please forgive me for quoting your message in its entirety.

[Devin Bent]

Yesterday I watched a storm form to the east and a little south -- I'd guess over Chupadero or Nambe Lake. It seemed like it moved south and hit maybe hit Tesuque and eastern portions of Santa Fe.

I guess it was the same storm that the New Mexican reported that may have drowned a homeless man sleeping in an arroyo.

You do have to be careful out here -- you can have blue skies yet a storm miles away can send a flood down an arroyo or river bed. We didn't get rain but Nambe Creek/Pojoaque River was in flood.

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by mortimer

Also, even if the overall system is moving up from the South, if a storm starts dumping N of you, the *wind* will come from there.

There you go!

The simple fact is that the moist warm air is to the south. The air to the north is relatively cold and dry. Monsoons are about moisture, so irrespective of where the wind is coming from the moisture is coming from the south.