Monsoon Diary

[Susan Strom]

Last year, I remember exactly how the Monsoon "ended". I remember it like it was yesterday. While standing at a desert trailhead before a hike, I watched the full Moon rise. With it, the last thunderstorm marched away, over the eastern mountains, into the darkness and gone for the year. It was almost ceremonial, the Monsoon door had closed and Fall was coming. It was perfect.

The slipping away of this year's Monsoon felt like losing one's hat in the wind. Where did it go? When did it go? The Monsoon is indeed gone, but before I download a Vermont Fall foliage image for my computer's wallpaper (to remind myself that it is Fall...somewhere), I await a few gasps from Hurricane Javier in the Pacific.

Rain and storms are due in Arizona for the weekend when a bit of imported moisture from Javier rides up to a cold front coming down from the north. We'll see what happens. The pattern is not Monsoon, but late September always proves interesting.

 

[bill mudd]

Yes I too watched last weeks end here to the monsoon season.....thunderstorms in places like Baker and Beatty seem almost out of place - major set ups over southern california deserts created an all too rare sight into amazing thunderheads
sad part is most californians walk around with their heads down!
well its time to put away the chase gear till March.....and save up some $$$ to cover the costs of spring chasing 1000 miles from home!
cheers
bill

 

[Greg Campbell]

Hurrah! :blob7:

The Arizona summer heat has finally abated. Tucson highs are in the low 90's with lows tickling 50! Dew points in the 30's are also very much welcome.
Yea, the Monson is almost certainly dead, but fall weather, and a chance to actually enjoy the outdoors, is welcomed.

-Greg

 

[Susan Strom]

iMuchas gracias, Javier!
Pacific hurricane Javier was generous last weekend as the remnants brought rain to Arizona. Although many Arizona towns reported 1 in of rain or so, a few places in Coconino County (north central Arizona) reported up to 4 ½ inches to local media. Flash flood warnings persisted all day on Saturday in many of the counties including desert areas as arroyos ran full. The Mogollon Rim Country (the southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau) received heavy downpours in places. Significant CA (cloud-to-air) and IC (intra-cloud) strikes occurred during the daytime hours.

Thanks to everybody for contributing to the Monsoon Diary...the posts were fun to read! As we know, rarely do desert dwellers have the same weather experience during Monsoon. One town might be sunbathing while another is being deluged with rain, lightning and wind. That’s the way it is, so it is especially nice to read everybody’s experiences. Same time next year!

Cameras are never put away though. It will be time to photograph aspens turning gold in a couple weeks near Flagstaff (about an 1½ hrs up the road). Flagstaff is alpine, with ponderosa, juniper, aspens and silver tips. Flag is also the county seat of Coconino County...the county that received a lion’s share of Javier’s rains.

This winter, as a part of the opening of McDowell Mountain Regional Park’s new visitors center, I’ll be setting up another lightning photography show (details to come). It’s going to be a lot of fun, and the center will give local Arizonans & visitors a chance to discover McDowell Mountain Regional Park, a 21,099 acre Sonoran Desert wildland with 40 miles of hiking trails in the Maricopa County (huge) Park System. The theme of the photo show will be lightning and Monsoon with some nature scenes specifically in and around the vicinity of McDowell Mountain Regional Park. I’m looking forward to it...

Maricopa County Parks (local best kept secret) - http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/.

 

[Susan Strom]

The Valley of the Sun (name for Phoenix, Arizona) was transformed lastnight into a valley of the Moon and lightning. The storms looked like Monsoon, felt like Monsoon, but instead were simply the result of low pressure over California sweeping moisture into the State. All of Northern Arizona and Phoenix, the southernmost boundary of the activity, experienced widespread showers and thunderstorms with numerous beautiful lightning more typical for July & August.

I set up on the West shore of Saguaro Lake, part of a long, forky reservoir system. This v-shaped canyon lake system is easy to remember by name: It looks, from an airplane, like a SCAR upon the land. Saguaro, Canyon, Apache, and Roosevelt are the lakes in that system, lakes that fill up part of the Salt River Canyon. This Web site shows a picture of the typical terrain: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/10174/photo7.html

Lightning was clearly visible hitting off the chiseled Wiley Coyote mesas at the other side of the water. Once in awhile a sharp, white moonbeam would pierce the cloudcover and sweep across the lake in a straight line, looking like some giant scanning-beam searching for something. What would it find? Anglers! Two fishermen in a metal boat were trolling in a lightning storm. It was so quiet and the wind was still as stone so I could hear their voices carrying across the water. Casually, they were talking about doctor's appointments, at least from what I could make out. When a big forky strike would hit the cliffs, I would hear a concerned "oooh" come from across the water. This didn't stop them and a company of 4 or 5 other boats on the lake from trolling in the stormy night. Saguaro Lake is a long lake. I could see another light or two, blinking in the distance. "How appealing to a passing stepped leader," I thought. If boaters knew the workings of a lightning strike, how it actually behaves, would it make a difference?

CGs in the area persisted until 1am. Late September never disappoints, I have learned.

 

[David Wolfson]

The only tornado reported in the country touched down in open rangeland east of Winslow, AZ, today. Definitely a tornado from a mini-supercell.

 

[Susan Strom]

Yes, people in Winslow were excited to see that yesterday. Full touchdown for 15 minutes. A big one, but apparently did no damage due to Winslow's remoteness. That is the second bona fide tornado Winslow has had in 15 months!

 

[bill mudd]

yea I was surpirised to see the photos you shared of the winslow incident - who would have ever expected this in late September - though I recently found out Oklahoma had a massive tornado in the finger 4 years ago that wiper out a complete town
bill

 

[David Wolfson]

Late September is right in the middle of Arizona's "tornado season", such as it is. After monsoon season, you occasionally get the right mix of instability and shear, with enough backed surface, up-rim moist flow advected by trough-induced pressure falls over the higher terrain. The typical supercells are energetic little blobs flying northeastward, not the lumbering monsters of the plains.

 

[Susan Strom]

Rather amazing stat I heard on local media this morning. The 2004 fire season in Arizona, which included the 120,000-acre blaze back in June, officially ended today. The massive Willow Fire (I chased it for a week prior to Monsoon) was sparked by a single lightning strike (dry thunderstorms, full of lightning but little rain, often precede Monsoon). KJZZ reported today that during this year's AZ fire season, not one house was lost!

 

[Dave Crowley]

A little late, but as I can finally post here on ST, here are a few lightning shots I got during my annual trek to SE AZ in August..
http://stormguy.com/arizona2004.htm

 

[Susan Strom]

Originally posted by Dave Crowley
A little late, but as I can finally post here on ST, here are a few lightning shots I got during my annual trek to SE AZ in August..
http://stormguy.com/arizona2004.htm

Wonderful, Dave! Nice job capturing the purple amethyst colors. The sky in Southern Arizona is clear as water, an awesome backdrop for your lightning.

I'm already looking forward to Monsoon 2005, a good ways off but I can think about it Soon when I get a break I'll be able to roll up sleeves and get my '04 stuff up on my site; currently I'm into a long-term assignment for someone in Canada. I'll post soon though, it was a stop-start Monsoon but had some photo op gems.

 

[bill mudd]

slightly off target but just got in from a drive through vegas and there was so much snow everywhere I couldnt believe it! looks like the level was 3,000 feet - maybe the drought will be over soon!!!
never seen this much snow from utah to california and it all happened in one night, sunday
enjoy
bill