Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[chumley]

Not seeing it on the QPF maps, but FLG discussion anticipates 1" along the rim, and snow level dropping to 7000feet. Sounds nice to me.

[Jim]

Well, some rain would be good, especially in SE AZ, but I suspect they really won't get it. I guess Flagstaff can still use it, but I don't want dust. It is getting later into spring and the models don't seem to handle the storms as well. In 2008, the Memorial Day wrecker was a decent storm, but not what they thought it would be. Maybe I will get lucky and have no dust and 1/4 inch of rain. Yeah, that will happen.

On the positive side, how about the clouds over the Rincon Mountains right now. Really beautiful stuff and makes me think of Monsoon season. I don't know, maybe I should just come back here in summer.

[azbackpackr]

Tucson is gorgeous in August. Lots of weather, and the hiking is great up on the mountain, lots of flowers, water running, etc., if it has been a good monsoon. I've been there the past two Augusts, hiking Wrightson and Wilderness of Rocks/Lemmon Lookout.

[chumley]

I just poured at my house for a few minutes. Don't know if sky harbor will get hit but if it does it will be the first measurable rainfall at PHX on this date in 32 years! At least if I did the research right ;)

Either way, April showers in the desert are always appreciated.

[rwstorm]

@azbackpackr
Totally agree. Hands down the very best time to be hiking/camping in the mountains is during the summer monsoon season! Everything comes alive with those rains. Pretty dry with a brutal sun during May and June.

[azbackpackr]

Yeah, check out my photoset from last August on Wrightson. It was amazing. Like being in Oregon. And so fantastic to be able to escape the heat.

[big_load]

I just got back from a week working along the Columbia River a little east of Portland. It seems a rare case of a place whose forecasts are even less reliable than AZ. It was bizarre to watch a storm ten miles downstream, with the wind at ground level blowing 30-40 mph upstream all day long, yet the storm never got closer. On other days it alternated between blinding glare and impenetrable gloom on a minute-by-minute basis. I walked around with two pairs of glasses on my head. We did have a couple totally gorgeous warm days.

[johnlp]

The Columbia River Gorge is a cool place. Some great hiking in there if you get the chance. It definitely gets windy too.

[big_load]

@johnlp I've done some nice dayhikes there in the past, but unfortunately didn't get any spare time in the last trip. I've never been right down on the river like that before, though. The wind was just crazy.

[Jim]

Had some rain in Kayenta. NWS reports 35/100ths, and that seems to be right. Had a puddle of it in my kitchen (from the sliding door that is bent), so it must have been wind driven. No real dust to speak of, and the brocolli and lettuce is fine, so I'm happy.

[PatrickL]

The wind came out of nowhere out here.
Maybe we'll get a quick coat of dirty rain!

Edit: Yup, just as usual, the storm swerved to the south so we got just enough drops of rain to get the cars dirty.

[Trishness]

It poured on my commute home from Mesa to Apache Junction via Baseline Road. Pretty impressive lightening too. AND my car is CLEAN!

[kevinweitzel75]

I got pounded on my way home. And I found out that my windsheild wipers don't work! Kind of funny how fast you learn how to drive while hanging your head out the window.

[Jim]

Sunny, gorgeous, and a little mild up here.

[outdoor_lover]

@kevinweitzel75
Try doing that sometime during a Minnesota Winter when you don't have a heater in the car and the ice forms on the inside of the windshield. We used the ice scraper on the inside of the windshield more than on the outside and spent alot of time with our heads stuck out the window...

[chumley]

It rained in Michigan today too. Bell's is just as tasty on a humid, rainy day though so I don't really care. :-)

[SuperstitionGuy]

@Outdoor Lover
I was raised in Minnesota but it was so long ago that I cannot remember which week was summer...

So with this rainstorm in and around Apache Junction are the canyons and streams in the Sups now flowing again?

[big_load]

I got processed by a dust devil yesterday. It was born about 50 feet away in a spot that I was walking toward. I was 3 steps from my car and thought I could make it, but I was wrong. I got most of the gravel out of my nose and ears, but it will be a few more days before I get totally clean.

There was a nice storm in Florence a bit later and I had a fantastic cool walk in the evening.

[azbackpackr]

I heard from a friend that it rained 4 inches in Tucson: "One drop every every four inches..."

[Jim]

As I was attempting to fall asleep at a reasonably hour last night, there was some dry lightning west of Kayenta. It looked to be west of Skeleton Mesa, either over by Navajo NM, or on the plain between or west of Shonto, and Red Lake, and Kaibito-Inscription House. No thunder, but I saw some good flashed between 2300 and 2330 MDT. A few more weeks, and I guess I'll need to update the thread title. Believe it or not, after the last 8 months here, I am actually looking forward to and would like to see summer and monsoon season here.