Monsoon Season Log (Phoenix, Sierra Vista, Safford: average, temps, history)

[Phxguy]

More rain today, and lightning is dangerously close to my neighborhood. Every bolt has a day-light effect and thunder causes our windows to pulsate inwards.

[maseyjean]

^^ Your area has been getting hit pretty hard recently. Where I am, in Tempe, we have just gotten our first substantial rain since early last month.

[Java Jolt]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Monsoon is over. It ended about Labor Day. The season wind shift that defines monsoon went away. We have returned to the normal westerly steering flow. Officially it is still monsoon as they have gone to date definitions, but meteorologically this one is in the books. The storms that hit a few favored locations over the weekend were from a Pacific system approaching from the west. There was some remnant moisture from the non-soon that is caught up in the flow.

In any case, you are correct in this being perhaps the worst monsoon the west side has ever had. Looks like Yuma had a lot more rain than most of Phoenix got.

Huh, I thought monsoon season wasn't over with until the end of September.

I understood this moisture surge was enhanced by Pacific low pressure but the moisture flow itself is monsoonal.

[Java Jolt]

Originally Posted by maseyjean

^^ Your area has been getting hit pretty hard recently. Where I am, in Tempe, we have just gotten our first substantial rain since early last month.

The streets in northern Tempe were wet this morning.

Avondale and the west valley finally got some rain too, first time since July. I don't think the westside had any rain in August.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by Java Jolt

Huh, I thought monsoon season wasn't over with until the end of September.

I understood this moisture surge was enhanced by Pacific low pressure but the moisture flow itself is monsoonal.

An official date bracket is now used instead of meterological conditions, hence the end of September. But monsoon is a wind shift phenomenon not a calendar date. The seasonal wind shift ended over Labor Day weekend when the monsoon high broke down and moved east and the westerlies took over. The latest series of storms was from a low positioned off the California coast. There was no monsoonal moisture "flow" in the latest storm. The flow was from the southwest around the low and the the low progressed eastward. Typical fall, non monsoon, pattern. There was remnant moisture in Mexico as there will be for some time and another punch came from the Pacific.

It is not impossible for a monsoon flow (easterlies) to redevelop in the next couple weeks but it looks very unlikely from the long range models. This one is/was in the bag and was a very poor one from much of the valley.

Anyway, if you want to call the sprinkles we had in the west valley yesterday a monsoon storm, go ahead. The NWS will until their arbitrary date of the end of Sep. I'm just being technical about it. I'd like to return to the old days when the monsoon was defined by things like dew points and dust storms were not called "haboobs".

[Phxguy]

Originally Posted by maseyjean

^^ Your area has been getting hit pretty hard recently. Where I am, in Tempe, we have just gotten our first substantial rain since early last month.

I must be living in a micro-climate or something, not only did we get hammered good last night, I awoke to heavenly 68 degree temps.

[Subie2]

Well, reports said the rain would be over by tonight. I'm going to miss it It's nice and green down here in Benson! Been getting hit pretty hard every day for a week now and our temps are in the 60s.

[PoppySead]

Well, if monsoon is over we can get back to dry air and 105 to 108 temps for a a while longer. I hope to get some good swimming in before fall night time temps take my water temp down. This is the perfect weather for a little sunbathing and swimming while the water is a bit cooler but it's still plenty hot outside.

[Subie2]

I think monsoons are over No rain since Thursday, and was raining everyday. Now temps are early 70s to late 60s.

[Grannysroost]

LOL, I thought something was wrong with our truck thermometer this morning at about 7 am when I was about home...it said 68.... Spent the rest of the morning outside and left the doors open, AC didn't come on until about noon!