Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[Jim]

Rain!! and lots of it. Widespread, too. Makes me wonder what type winter I may see, or read about for Flagstaff.

[azbackpackr]

You leaving Flag already? Fall rain makes for spring wildflowers, at least in the Sonoran Desert. And I heard that Tucson got quite a bit of rain the other day, and they still have some in the forecast.

I kind of hoping for a mild winter, as much as I love xc skiing. Last winter was long and it was cold. There were several mild winters when I first moved here, but then of course we had terrible summer fires afterward. We had few large fires last summer, here in the A Bar S.

[Jim]

End of the year, or possibly in January or February. No job yet, so not sure. All depends on what happens. If I'm not gone from here by the end January and I have no job I would like to move from Flag to lower elevation for 2 reasons, 1) Spring here from March to the end of May or early June is not worth living in for all the reasons I have talked about: cold, extreme wind, and so on; and 2) my rent will be way more than I can afford at a month to month rate.

[chumley]

This is one of the strangest weather patterns I can remember. September/October, non-monsoon severe thunderstorms across the deserts? How often does that happen around here?

I am truly enjoying the 85° day, then some rain, down to the low 70s.

Typically when it rains here, its either in the 50s or else in the 100s. Not a lot of rain at "room-temperature".

[juliachaos]

It's even better than just a thunderstorm =)

http://www.hikearizona.com/dex2/igaller ... ic_id=4357

(sorry I'd have put the image itself here but there was a problem apparently.. maybe a mod knows better how to post..)

[Jim]

I agree, it is odd. It acts like a low (which it is associated with) and a monsoon flow, but then again the monsoon is created by a surface low over SE CA and a high over the southern plains, so it isn't completely out of the question. It is actually pretty similar to the events that gave Flagstaff all the heavy rain at the end of July. If this could happen for the first weeks of December, and as snow, now that would be great.

[azbackpackr]

Ugh, I want summer back. Maybe I should go back to Yuma for the winter.

[hippiepunkpirate]

Evidently the jetstream went way north and just dumped a low pressure system right over us. It's got nowhere to go so it's just gonna dump on us for a couple days until the jetstream moves back south and carries it away.

[Jim]

Thats a cut-off low for you.

[Nighthiker]

Dry line also involved ?

[chumley]

Forecast calls for snow on the peaks tonight. "Up to half an inch" isn't too impressive, but still noteworthy for Oct 5.

[azbackpackr]

Ok, let's get this darned stormy stuff over with. It poured here a little while ago (about 3 a.m.) I have a permit for Boucher-Hermit in the Canyon, Oct 23rd to 26th. I want DRY weather with NO pesky snow on the rim. So there.

[PaleoRob]

Tornado Warning for just north of Ft. Valley and parts of I-40 this morning. Serious stuff, eh?

[chumley]

A couple pretty good looking cells on radar there this morning. There was some craziness here in the valley yesterday afternoon too. Hail up to tennis-ball-sized and some awesome looking clouds.

[PaleoRob]

Hailing right now. Heard on the news about 1/2 an hour ago that there was a tornado on the ground near Parks.

[chumley]

Yeah anytime there is a Tornado WARNING, it means that one has been spotted on the ground, or the circulation of a tornado is visible on Doppler radar. Either way, serious stuff. (A Tornado Watch on the other hand refers to atmospheric conditions favorable for a tornado to form at some point in the next couple of hours or so).

Looks like the warning now extends from just north of Prescott to north of I-40 in a pretty serious line of cells.

[Jim]

Pretty dark and nasty looking to the west. Thunder and some lightning are getting closer to me, but just light rain east of Milton/I-17. It is supposed to start to dry out Thursday. As much as I would have preferred to have not had this rain this week, or while not working, it is good and we needed it. If we can just have a similar situation of snow in 2 months. Not sure why, but I could almost care less about fall and color now. I just want to go right to 3 feet of snow and winter. The forecast for the Peaks above 11,500' is for 3 to 6 inches of snow. Might be nice to see what happens.

Sure has been weird this year, it seems like we have a feast or famine situation for precipitation. Long dry periods interrupted by intense heavy rain or snow events. Monsoon season was good, and looked great on paper, but it almost all fell in a 2 to 3 week period and then was pretty dry around here for the rest of the time. I enjoyed it that way, but it was odd. Now, after well over a month without anything to write home about, we get this storm. Maybe it will be dry now for a month or so?

[hippiepunkpirate]

The Arizona Daily Sun reported that two tornadoes touched down in Bellemont about 5:30 this morning. "Extensive" damage to homes has been reported.

http://azdailysun.com/news/state-and-re ... 955f8.html

[Jim]

I know someone who lives out there, maybe I can get some details.

[chumley]

Visited the Blue Ridge Ranger Station last weekend and got myself added to an email list that gets sent out to locals up there. Looks like there's been some impressive storms on the rim too:

I have received a couple of emails inquiring about tornados in our area. Yes, we do believe a tornado touched down along Forest Road 211. An area about 2 miles long on FR 211 there are SEVERAL large, Ponderosa Pine trees laying across the road. Also ADOT cleaned up an area on Highway 87 where there were numerous trees down, and the tops of trees taken off. Of course, we do not have confirmation from the Weather Service, but by the looks of things it was a tornado in both spots. We have several people out patrolling other roads on the district to see if there is more damage. Please use caution if you are out and about today, listen to the weather. Bellemont got hit with 4 tornados and has suffered severe damage, I-40 remains open east and west bound but travel is SLOW.