Here's the 2019 Monsoon Thread (Phoenix, Scottsdale: house, college, distance)

[fluffythewondercat]

Originally Posted by wase4711

an inch would be nice, but the weather forecasters out here would need to be put on life support if that happened;I've never seen a bigger deal being made about a tiny amount of precipitation in any city in the world, and, I've been to many of them.."Team coverage" for a tenth of an inch of rain, swarms of reporters on every station, driving around desperately searching for clouds or drizzle.. Makes us look like Mayberry, RFD...

I laughed hysterically the first time I saw STORM COMMANDER! in action.

https://www.azfamily.com/weather/ari...16c507b2e.html

My God, these people take themselves so seriously.

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat

I laughed hysterically the first time I saw STORM COMMANDER! in action.

https://www.azfamily.com/weather/ari...16c507b2e.html

My God, these people take themselves so seriously.

I know; my wife and I cant resist cracking up as well every time they cut to the live shot of someone in that thing, warning of impending Armageddon, which, according to the weather forecasting idiots out here is just one monster monsoon storm away.. I mean "storm commander"??? It a Chevy blazer with a weather station installed inside...

[fluffythewondercat]

Well, there has been a move in recent years to turn news into entertainment.


Though I don't think SC! was what they had in mind.

[veritased]

Originally Posted by wase4711

an inch would be nice, but the weather forecasters out here would need to be put on life support if that happened;I've never seen a bigger deal being made about a tiny amount of precipitation in any city in the world, and, I've been to many of them.."Team coverage" for a tenth of an inch of rain, swarms of reporters on every station, driving around desperately searching for clouds or drizzle.. Makes us look like Mayberry, RFD...

LOL, same thoughts here. Arizona is such a slow news state (which is good imo) that they need to bait you in with tantalizing lead-ins. Or crowd sourced video, now, since the news cams have a hard time keeping up with the sparse newsworthy events.

We don't have a rain gauge, but we got I estimate about 1/4" or so. This storm seemed very cellular in that tight cells would dump and around the periphery it would not precip so much. Whatever we get, we welcome. Helps my granules wet in even better and get those scorps hiding in my gravel to emerge and die.

While the humidity is undesirable, at least the temps are also down today, which is a nice break.

[veritased]

A true 'Storm Commander' would have a doppler radar on top.

I think this one indeed is a Chevy Yuke with tablet showing NWS radar returns.
And constantly missing whatever cell is active. Just pay people to capture video at their homes, if you use their video.
Problem of getting the best weather shots solved.

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat

Well, there has been a move in recent years to turn news into entertainment.


Though I don't think SC! was what they had in mind.

sadly, the "news" out here is nothing but entertainment...maybe sprinkle one or 2 actual "news" stories in every hour or so, but the rest is just silly fluff, and, for a area that has little "real" weather, they spend 75% of the newscast exaggerating whatever weather we happen to be having that day..I mean, calling it a "major cool down" when the temps go from 104 to 100 is beyond stupid..

[teddyearp]

Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat

Well, there has been a move in recent years to turn news into entertainment.

And they sure the heck have. . . . Certainly doesn't contain much in the way of facts anymore.

[teddyearp]

So, I've been just seeing a little here and there. We'll get a couple of thunder rumbles and about fifteen minutes of rain here in Taylor where I work, but yesterday I drove to Pinetop . . . . .

WOW! As I was going south down the Penrod extension, I couldn't see Porter Mtn at all. There was a huge sheet straight down out of the sky. Then when I got to hwy 260, it started coming down. The further I drove up to Pinetop, the heavier it got. Around Safeway I heard the hail starting. I was hard driving home to Lakeside for the amount of rain. The right lane was useless.

At home in Lakeside, the sun was almost out! No raining, the ground barely wet. Weather service called for a severe thunderstorm warning as the storm stalled right over Pinetop. I looked at the radar and there were these two red blobs, but they might have only covered less than ten square miles. Later, there was a flash flood warning. I ran into my boss in Pinetop. But this morning he showed me pictures of quarter sized hail by the handfuls, and he said it was up to four inches thick on some roads. And the lightning? All over mainly right on top of us. Flash Bang.

So veritased, come on up. No guarantees though. Except for cooler weather.

[BBslider001]

Wait....just got to Kingman yesterday for a 2 month stay, maybe longer. I have not yet seen one monsoon. Where are they??!! LOL

[veritased]

Yesterday, right up and even past the point where clouds appeared over McDowell range and lightning lit up the sky and hard driving rain came down, the NWS Phoenix office said no rain, and the news channels said 10% chance at best.
Let's face it, the AZ monsoon climate is far too complex to model, and these guys just don't have to the tools or know how.
This was the biggest storm I've seen this season yet, and it was the least anticipated by the pro's. So will pay much less attention to the nice weather lady, she/he has no clue, in fact.

Yes coming up to Pinetop/Lakeside today in fact for a quick visit. Leaving Scottsdale now!

BTW, the weather in SF Bay was infinitely easier for them to forecast, though, once the weather got more eastward, they really couldn't tell how much it would snow in the Sierra's, though they usually got it roughly right, and sometimes missed the amounts by a huge swath. Storms in Coastal california come from way out in the Pacific, move eastward and are super easy to track. Here the storms seem to pop up from nowhere!