HikeArizona.COM

The endless chatter of weather.

chumley wrote: ↑Jun 18 2020 9:55 am I wouldn't be surprised to see 130°F.

Wouldn't that be one hell of a curve ball. Lets hope that doesn't happen!

Humidity came to NJ last night, a most unwelcome visitor.

@Jim_H
When I was a kid, we had an apricot tree in the backyard. Oh, the memories!

It's July 1st! Which means that the summer solstice has passed, and also that what is or was typically the hottest time of year has, too. At least that was true in years past when Phoenix got to extreme temperatures like 119 in later June of 2017, or even just 117, which I think it did in June of 2016. In fact, checking the Phoenix preliminary climate summary for June, but also May since we got hot early, the hottest it has been is 112, and Phoenix did that in late May and early June, but not since the middle of the month. It still got to 110 and 111 a few times after the middle of June.

This is similar to last summer, when June wasn't all that hot. We then had a failure of monsoon flow, almost no storms or rain, and it ended up being relatively cool for the summer in some ways, but hotter in others. What I mean, is 115 was the hottest Phoenix got all year, but we got to 114 and 115 what seemed like an unusually high number of times in July-August, with no rain at all. Hopefully, there will not be a monsoon failure and temperatures will be relatively moderate from now until fall. You know, most high temperature in the 108 to 110 range, and not the 112 to 119 range.

Jim_H wrote:It's July 1st! Which means that........

You've done your annual avatar photo update!

Alston_Neal wrote: ↑Jul 01 2020 10:38 am

Jim_H wrote:It's July 1st! Which means that........

You've done your annual avatar photo update!

And as Homer would say...

It's here! At least today. Thunder last 10-15 min and some lightning, a little rain, and gloomy skies all around. How I love the monsoon!

I think statewide we'll be in the full swing of things in the next five days or so!

@DmN
not from the forecasts that I have seen

My AC condenser is dripping so the Sooners are sneaking in.

I didn't take my raincoat when riding my road bike from Doney Park to Winona and back today, so that is why it rained and hailed on me. If I had taken my new raincoat, it would not have rained at all.

azbackpackr wrote: ↑Jul 03 2020 8:18 pm I didn't take my raincoat when riding my road bike from Doney Park to Winona and back today, so that is why it rained and hailed on me. If I had taken my new raincoat, it would not have rained at all.

I hope it was at least a good temperature for riding wet.

Summer came to NJ last week, so the heat is catching up to the humidity to make for sweaty walking. At least I've been able to get out a lot in the daytime this year.

@big_load
Yes, it was warm enough, and it didn't rain hard, thankfully. My main concern was for the cell phone. I put it into layers of several zip loc snack bags I had in my pack.

NWS Flag posted a graphic this morning showing temps at 4:30am in the Flagstaff area. Fascinating results.
Bellemont 35
Fort Valley 34
Airport 43
Downtown 59
Doney Park 71

A 25 degree difference in 7 miles between Fort Valley and downtown. (400 feet lower elevation)
A 37 degree difference in 13 miles between Fort Valley and Doney Park. (800 feet lower elevation)

Doney Park, more open and getting the warm winds coming in from the vast desert to the east?

@Alston_Neal
Something like that. Strong inversion layer in the cold spots, and not sure of the direction, but winds in Doney Park kept the warm air at the surface.

Bellemont is often very cold on dry nights. Doney is often breezy on the leeward side of the peaks.

chumley wrote:A 25 degree difference in 7 miles between Fort Valley and downtown. (400 feet lower elevation)
A 37 degree difference in 13 miles between Fort Valley and Doney Park. (800 feet lower elevation)

Those kind of differences usually lead to interesting weather.

chumley wrote: ↑Jul 07 2020 10:55 am
Something like that. Strong inversion layer in the cold spots, and not sure of the direction, but winds in Doney Park kept the warm air at the surface.

Bellemont is often very cold on dry nights. Doney is often breezy on the leeward side of the peaks.

Isn't this about the general time of year that Bellemont is in the running for the cold spot in the U.S. and other spots in Arizona compete for the warmest?

@chumley
There's also a possibility that one or two of those values are inaccurate. Readings taken earlier, but reported later, etc.

@azbackpackr
If the national weather Service went through the trouble of producing a graphic to show the disparities in temperature between locations which were still relatively close together, and not say Arizona versus Montana, I'm pretty sure that they made sure the readings were both accurate and about the same time.