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Douglas: 3.46 inches (normal: 8.19") |
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Ranks as 2nd driest on record. Driest Monsoon on record: 2.26" in 1956 |
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Safford: 1.79 inches (normal: 4.54") |
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Ranks as 2nd driest on record. Driest Monsoon on record: 1.49" in 2003 |
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Tucson International Airport: 2.86 inches (normal: 6.06") |
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Ranks as 11th driest on record. Driest Monsoon on record: 1.59" in 1924 |
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Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument: 2.02 inches (normal: 4.42") |
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Ranks as 12th driest on record. Driest Monsoon on record: 0.69" in 1975 |
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Sierra Vista : 5.82 inches (normal: 8.53") |
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Ranks as 12th driest on record. Driest Monsoon on record: 2.42" in 1962 |
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Nogales 6N: 9.70 inches (normal: 10.73") |
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Ranks as 23rd driest on record. Driest Monsoon on record: 0.69" in 1975 |
Monsoon
October 01, 2009
September 30, 2009
Disappointing Monsoon...It Ends Today.
The monsoon just didn't measure up. Check out the above image. The blue is the monsoon rainfall from June 15th through the Monday of this week. Today is the last day of the monsoon and there isn't much of a chance in adding to these numbers. Tucson rainfall is about half of where we should be for the monsoon and every single recording station in southeast Arizona on this image measured below average rainfall.
The below image shows the top 10 wettest and driest monsoon rain totals in the Tucson basin. Bascially...it could be worse! Even with 2.86" of rain, Tucson will end the monsoon outside the top ten driest. However...we just narrowing missed that list and we rank 11th for this monsoon.
| Top 10 Wettest Monsoon | Top 10 Driest Monsoon | ||
| 1) 13.84"/1964 | 6) 10.20"/2006 | 1) 1.59"/1924 | 6) 2.50"/1902 |
| 2) 13.08"/1955 | 7) 9.94"/1984 | 2) 2.33"/1973 | 7) 2.58"/1994 |
| 3) 11.04"/1921 | 8) 9.85"/1990 | 3) 2.40"/1989 | 8) 2.75"/1913 |
| 4) 10.50"/1983 | 9) 9.43"/1966 | 4) 2.42"/2004 | 9) 2.79"/1918 |
| 5) 10.21"/1919 | 10) 8.54"/1954 | 5) 2.45"/1900 | 10) 2.81"/2001 |
Plus...it was hot! This was the 3rd warmest monsoon. So that cool June that we all loved? Well...that was offset by our sizzling summer heat in July, August, and September. Let's hope the winter is better! But right now...it's not looking so good.
September 09, 2009
Monsoon Downpours! How Much Did You Get?
Some of you had fabulous downpours last night! Find out how much rain your neighborhood got by clicking here. These are rain totals from the last 24 hours, updated hourly. So basically, these numbers will only be listed through tonight. You can also change the number of days to see rain totals over a week, a month, even a year on Pima County Regional Flood Control District's ALERT System. There are lots of rain gauges around Tucson. Find one near your home for the best estimate of rain in your backyard. - First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan.
Photo Source: Doug Groenhoff, taken Tuesday September 8th in Tucson
September 08, 2009
Unusual Shadows & Lights In the Skies!
A big storm west of Tucson at sunset on Monday evening, cast a shadow across the sky as it blocked light from the setting sun. The storm was caught by David Eisenhuth in this See It, Snap It, Send It to the right. Look closely, you can see the thunderhead casting a shadow into the sky. The shadow is called an anticrepuscular ray. Crepuscular rays are the rays of sunshine, commonly seen at sunrise and sunset, that converge on the orb of the sun. An anticrepuscular ray converges on a point opposite of the sun. This is an optical illusion. The rays don't actually converge. They just disappear into a vanishing point on the horizon. Think of looking straight down a railroad track. You know the two rails are parallel but they seem to "converge" on the horizon. It's the same principle with crepuscular and anticrepuscular rays.
Check out this next See It, Snap It, Send Itsubmitted by Kathy Johnson. This photo was taken looking east, towards the vanishing point. The anticrepuscular ray is well defined. While it was a Labor Day storm that created this shadow, anticrepuscular rays are commonly seen from our mountains as well. Last week at sunset on a clear day, I noticed mountains to our west casting shadows in the skies. The effect was not nearly as pronounced as the shadow in the See It, Snap It, Send Its that were submitted in on Monday night. Keep those photos coming! - First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan
UPDATED ON 9.9.09
On Tuesday afternoon there was another great anticrepuscular ray in the sky. Many people spotted this one, even me. I was driving home from class on the UA campus when I pulled over to capture this photo of the ray. This See It, Snap It, Send It was taken on the northwest side of town looking towards the Rincon Mountains. I love this shot because you can see the anticrepuscular ray illuminating a storm cloud off in the distance. Check out more photos I took on my Facebook Page.
Plus for a good example of crepuscular rays check out our state flag. Think of the star as the sun. The crepuscular rays are the yellow bands converging on the star.
August 13, 2009
How Much Rain Did You Get?
Rain...rain...come this way! We need it and we want it. Find out how much rain your neighborhood got by clicking here. These are rain totals from the last 24 hours, updated hourly. You can also change the number of days to see rain totals over a week, a month, even a year on Pima County Regional Flood Control District's ALERT System.
Check out the graphic to the right. This is from the Tucson National Weather Service. After a decent start to the monsoon in June and early July, the rain hasn't been so good this past month. In fact check out the numbers. All but Willcox has had below average rainfall for the monsoon. Tucson usually sees about 3 inches of rain by now. We have barely over an inch and three quarters! It's even worse in other cities and towns across Arizona. So if everyone does a rain dance...perhaps we'll keep getting these great shots of showers! - First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan.
July 09, 2009
El Niño Grows Stronger...What Does That Mean For Our Monsoon?
El Niño is the when water along the equatorial Pacific is warmer than average. This year El Niño is growing strong very quickly! Look at the graphic to the left. It's from the latest El Niño report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. You can see the very warm pool of water in the west Pacific and the warm water extending right over to Central America. The graphic below that shows the water is 1 to 2 degrees above average right now.
The image below is also from NOAA. It's a graph of the models used to predict El Niño/La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean. The black line in the middle represents average temperature. You can see that most models have a continued warming ofsea surface temperature though the winter. Therefore we do expect El Niño to grow ever stronger.
What does that mean for the monsoon? Well...it can be good or bad. Basically more warm water, means more tropical moisture for us to tap into. Often times this even means more tropical storms and hurricanes in the East Pacific. If our monsoon high sticks to our east, then the clockwise circulation around it helps push some of that tropical moisture right into southern Arizona. That means we may have a great monsoon! But it also means, with a ton of tropical moisture and possibly the left-overs of hurricanes and tropical storms heading our way, flooding downpours could be more common. If that high pressure moves into northern Mexico, which sometimes happens when an El Niño strengthens quickly in the summer, then our moisture would be cut-off, driven to the north. Our monsoon storms would have little chance to overcome the warm pool of air sitting over us. Right now the high is sticking to out east. We are watching it very, very closely for movement.
As for the winter, the El Niño pattern typically has a southern jet stream pumping in moisture from the east Pacific right into the west coast of CA and the Southwest United States. This means we could have a very wet winter, with rivers running through what is normally a cool and dry time of year. Flooding is possible because winter storms tend to produce prolonged rainfall. Aaron, Chuck, and I will keep you updated on any changes in our monsoon pattern. For now...don't fret. Although we will be hot and dry this weekend, it looks like our moisture returns next week.
To read more about the El Niño update from the Climate Prediction Center/NCEP visit the NOAA webpage.
To read the actual update go to the Climate Prediction Center webpage.
You can get the latest monsoon information at www.kold.com/monsoon
July 06, 2009
July 03, 2009
A Gustnado May Have Been Spotted
Powerful storms rocked parts of southern Arizona on Thursday afternoon. Near Casino del Sol on Valencia in Tucson, power lines toppled when high winds escaped one especially strong storm. At around the same, viewer Regina Wood snapped this photo in the same area. Regina asked if it could be a possible tornado but after looking at the photo Chief Meteorologist Chuck Goerge says it's more likely a gustando. This is a rotating column of air, similar to a tornado or dust devil, but it forms a little differently from these other two weather phenomenons. A gustnado is produced by very powerful outflow from a storm. This creates a horizontal shaft of rotating air. Sometimes the storms inflow or another gust can push this rotating column vertical, which is what may be happening in the photo. One minute the column of air is parallel to the ground, the next it's being pulled up and stretched into a gustnado. One of the reason Chuck believes this is a gustnado is what looks like a dust cloud at the bottom right portion of your screen. It's hard to tell if that is a dust cloud because of the trees. The National Weather Service here in Tucson also looked at the photo and could not confirm that it was gustnado but that it is a possibility. For more information on gustnados and a video explainer just log onto KOLD.com/monsoon. - First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan
Tracking the Dew Point...The Monsoon Is In Full Swing!
Although the National Weather Service begins recording data for the monsoon on June 15th, the dew point is an important factor on when we'll starting seeing the strong monsoon storms. The old way of determining the start of the monsoon was defined by the dew point. After three days of an average 54 degree dew point or higher, that first day with the high dew point would be the start of the monsoon. Generally this happens in early July. We at KOLD News 13 still track the dew point because once we see those three days, that's generally when the heavy downpours beging and damage reports start coming into our newsroom. This week with inches of rain, down trees, damage homes, and flooded washes, you can guess that we did get out three days of dew points. The first day was Sunday, the start of all our weather problems! While we love the rain, damage was extensive in Three Points with an entire street of mobile homes knocked off their foundations. No one was seriously hurt but fixing those homes will be no easy task. Check out our See It, Snap It, Send It slide show for photos of damage, sunsets, and all other photos of our southern Arizona monsoon. And send us your photos! - First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan
