Arizona's 2013 monsoon: an active one so far! (Phoenix, Tucson: power lines, how much)

[Valley Native]

What I thought would happen this summer has apparently come true. Based on how hot June turned out to be, I predicted that we would likely be in for a heavy summer monsoon. In most years, a hot June is followed by an active monsoon. Most locations across the state have recorded above normal rainfall for July ... and a few have even come close to setting precipitation records for the month. Flagstaff has measured 6.51 inches so far this month, which makes it their third wettest July on record. If they continue to have rain, it could be in the running for their wettest July ever.

The Phoenix area, which often misses out on good summer storms, has received a good share of rain this month. Sky Harbor has measured 1.77 inches in July so far, which is nearly 3/4 inch above normal. Many east Valley cities have measured even more than that. Scottsdale airport recorded 2.34 inches, and the extensive flooding from the storm on the 21st brought many rain gauges in the SE Valley to at least three times the July average.

While Tucson's monsoon rainfall has been slightly above normal thus far, many stations in SE Arizona have recorded excessive amounts of rain. Douglas, for example, has had 9.67 inches this month alone.

What's even more interesting is how widespread the monsoonal moisture has been. I just returned from a stay in San Diego, and even THEY had rain and thunderstorms in the area, which is pretty unusual considering how normal it is for them to have absolutely no rain at all during the summer months. The southern CA deserts (normally very hot & dry this time of year) have been cloudy & humid with scattered thundershowers.

It will be interesting to visit this thread again in September to report how productive this year's summer monsoon has been. July has been extremely active, but will August & September be equally active (or more so), or will there be more breaks & fewer storms? Only time will tell!

[Packard fan]

No rain here in Bullhead, just lots of muggy weather.

[thinkalot]

Not much rain in Sun City this season.

[corydon]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

It will be interesting to visit this thread again in September to report how productive this year's summer monsoon has been. !

You might be reading about a lot of wild fires..... That is in general the result of abundant growth after the rains.

[LordBalfor]

It's definitely been substantial here in Cochise County - I'm LOVIN' it.

We started with some significant rain the very first day of monsoon and - after a brief pause in late June - have never looked back. The cloud formations have breathtaking nearly every day this month, and some of the storms have been just plain weird. We had a storm blow through St David a couple of weeks back that was like nothing I've ever seen (or more appropriately HEARD) before. It was a huge thunderhead to the SE of us and we thought it was going to hit us but instead it swung past us to the east. It was clearly a very intense storm and it produced the strangest thunder I have ever heard. The thunder clearly originated high above (it was not particularly loud - and we only saw a couple of associated lightning flashes way up there in the cloud ceiling) but the thunder went on forever. It was one continuous roll of thunder that went on withoug a single break for about 10 minutes - not as a BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, but rather as one long BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, like one long roll without interuption. It sounded almost like a jet engine revving off on a runway in the distance somewhere, and a couple folks I spoke with remarked that they half-expected "the mothership" to come drifting down through the cloud. There's another thread where they talk about a similar rumbling sound but this one was clearly associated with the storm.

Early in this whole thing the power went out to much of the region and the next day we drove down through St David on our way to Douglas and beyond, and found out why. There was about a 1/4 mile really soaked stetch (lots of standing water) just south of town (in that sort of "badlands-looking" area with the jumbled terrain) where a whole string of power poles (maybe 7 of them in a row) were snapped off about 4 feet off the ground (a number of power company trucks were re-stringing the lines on new poles they were putting in). For a large area around them all the mequite trees were completely devoid of leaves. We saw the denuded trees before we came to the downed power lines and my first thought was that they were all deseased and dead, then we saw the trashed power poles and realised the wind had stripped every tree of every single leaf. A bit past the downed poles we began to see a few trees with a few leaves, then trees with a few more leaves and finally fully leafed out trees again.

That was one heck of a storm with an obviously increadible microburst.


Ken

[Chaindrive]

Originally Posted by Packard fan

No rain here in Bullhead, just lots of muggy weather.

Hear, hear. Thought we might get some today, but...nothing.

[teddyearp]

Ow gawd how much I miss Arizona during the monsoon season . . . . . And they can be very wary. I've seen 'em circle around and come back again when I lived up on the mountain. Definitely my favorite time of year when I lived down there. . . .

[magnum0417]

Where I live in the Eastern part of Tempe has missed out on some of the action seen in points just to the east and west, it's been way better than last year. Plus, haven't had the duststorms in Tempe that were prevalent on numerous occasions last year.Despite the one day of 119 in June, I feel this summer from a temp standpoint has been tame compared to last summer. However, August was when we broke that record for 8 straight days over 110 last year so we aren't out of the woods.

You know, I've complained about Tempe missing out on the action on other threads weather related. However, I have noticed areas in the West Valley like Buckeye and Sun City get little to no rain when the East and North Valleys are getting good action. Regardless, I would not call these Monsoons "widespread". It has been "feast or famine" and the differences tend to be only a mile or two of getting an inch of rain in one shot or nothing at all.

Lastly, I am happy to see points east and north getting heavy action. New Mexico and ABQ have had the most severe drought conditions in the entire country and have gotten much needed rain this month. Even when we don't get rain, the SRP lakes are being well fed from the Mogollon rains so that of course is great news for us too.

[borregokid]

Its hit and miss in Tucson like lost of places. Some areas have had about 2 inches or more while others maybe 3/4 of an inch. Lots of muggy, cloudy weather though. The desert has been in a long term drought so everywhere can use the rain and then a wet but not cold winter.

[LocoAZnative]

Originally Posted by magnum0417

Where I live in the Eastern part of Tempe has missed out on some of the action seen in points just to the east and west, it's been way better than last year. Plus, haven't had the duststorms in Tempe that were prevalent on numerous occasions last year.Despite the one day of 119 in June, I feel this summer from a temp standpoint has been tame compared to last summer. However, August was when we broke that record for 8 straight days over 110 last year so we aren't out of the woods.

You know, I've complained about Tempe missing out on the action on other threads weather related. However, I have noticed areas in the West Valley like Buckeye and Sun City get little to no rain when the East and North Valleys are getting good action. Regardless, I would not call these Monsoons "widespread". It has been "feast or famine" and the differences tend to be only a mile or two of getting an inch of rain in one shot or nothing at all.

Lastly, I am happy to see points east and north getting heavy action. New Mexico and ABQ have had the most severe drought conditions in the entire country and have gotten much needed rain this month. Even when we don't get rain, the SRP lakes are being well fed from the Mogollon rains so that of course is great news for us too.

Guess you live in the wrong part of Tempe because we has gotten so much rain this year. Hell Gardy was a raging river last weekend, and I lost 2 mature trees this year(blown over). I was my SO in June we are going to have a big monsoon season, because of the hot June, and here we are.