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The endless chatter of weather.

This has been a really weird monsoon. The storm on Thursday early a.m. was a boomer here in central Phoenix.
I remember the typical pattern being really hot and a somewhat humid--then really humid--then monsoon--then really humid--then really hot and somewhat humid--then really humid--then monsoon....
This year it's seemingly been somewhat similar, but without the monsoon here in Phoenix, and the dry periods have lasted for a long time.

Next couple of days is supposed to be dry. And did you hear there's a fire 25 miles SW of Flag, near Sycamore Canyon? My daughter called to say it's very smoky in Flag, and ashes are falling.

September is almost here and this dud of a season is running out of time.

...although
Sat, Sun & Mon look interesting...

yea, and I'll be up on the Mt Baldy Loop

I think we were a bit spoiled with last year's extremely healthy monsoon. It was the 10th wettest monsoon ever! Through Aug.15th, this monsoon is only the 27th driest ... there have been a lot of monsoons much drier than this year. (Stats for PHX).

The FLG NWS site has a nice link on their homepage right now showing the probability of increased precipitation this winter due to the current development of at least a "moderate" El Niño.

For those of you who don't habla español, that's Spanish for "The Niño"

-RIP Chris Farley!

It's really not a matter of whether there have been dryer monsoons.. it's the pattern of dry years that's disturbing more than anything. Now, we were supposed to have a wet summer (if I recall correctly) from the initial projections, we'd better have a wet winter...

I will say one thing about the absence of the monsoon this year. We have had great weather up here this summer. Its been warm (and dry obviously) and just fantastic for doing stuff outside. I can't complain about that or the continued above normal temps.

Rain in the forecast this entire week. Not holding my breath, but hope we get some moisture.

We got it good today here in central AZ. Got rained on in the Pinals, and had to drive home in it as well. Great lightning show to the west as I was headed home on US 60, and my yard is wet.

Interesting... I only live a couple miles east of you and we didn't get a drop, just high winds. Great lightning show though, I hope azpride was out on a mountain waving a golf club and taking photos!

chumley wrote:

For those of you who don't habla español, that's Spanish for "The Niño"

-RIP Chris Farley!

"All other tropical storms bow before El Nino!"

We had a bit of rain, with more up on the mountain.

Here's something I found when I looked up El Nino. I knew it wasn't a storm, but I wasn't sure I could describe it:

"The term El Niño—Spanish for "the Christ Child"—was originally used by fishermen to refer to the Pacific Ocean warm currents near the coasts of Peru and Ecuador that appeared periodically around Christmas time and lasted for a few months. Due to those currents, fish were much less abundant than usual. At the present time we use the same name for the large-scale warming of surface waters of the Pacific Ocean every 3-6 years, which usually lasts for 9-12 months, but may continue for up to 18 months, and dramatically affects the weather worldwide."

As you can see, the tilde will copy and paste, but I can't seem to make one myself from the keyboard.

azbackpackr wrote:Rain in the forecast this entire week. Not holding my breath, but hope we get some moisture.

Donno about you, but I got awful wet. Nothing like a downpour while you're in a meadow

Decent lightning and a little rain between Cameron and Bitter Springs this evening.

Okay, now we have real rain, both up on the mtn. and here in Round Valley. It rained a bunch on Sat. eve. and night. Yesterday afternoon a bunch, and it is now 6 a.m. and VERY wet out there, although it has stopped. It's about time! Forecast is for more, then starting to ease off midweek, scattered thunderstorms through the weekend.

joe bartels wrote:Interesting... I only live a couple miles east of you and we didn't get a drop, just high winds. Great lightning show though, I hope azpride was out on a mountain waving a golf club and taking photos!

Didn't think of bringing a lightning rod along... Guess that could have helped the shots

I was actually on the way to the blue range Friday evening and stopped along the beeline near the Bush Highway around sunset. Got some lightning shots, nothing spectacular

I got dumped on at KP Creek Saturday evening. Was stuck in the tent by 6PM. Still a great time!

azbackpackr wrote:As you can see, the tilde will copy and paste, but I can't seem to make one myself from the keyboard.

Hold down ALT while typing 0241 on the numeric keypad. Off-topic, yes. Sorry!

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Muchisimas gracias! (Now, how do I put the upside down question mark, exclamation point and the accent marks? Is there a way?)

Era mas lluvia esta tarde. Creo que mañana va a ser mas tambien.

Google ALT codes ... there's tons of sources for all the combinations. (Or you could figure out how to enable your international keyboard in Windoze, but I'm a Mac user so I don't know how to do that)