Our first monsoon storm of the season was on July 3. We were trying to finish painting the house before the rains started and we just about made it. Not quite though.
I did not really know what a monsoon was before I moved to Arizona. I found out when I tried to get home from work once and it took me over 2 hours to go 10 miles. I got stalled in the middle of an intersection because I went through too deep of water. I had detours because power lines were down. What a nightmare. I know about monsoons now and I like to appreciate them from a distance. I had the workers at our house waiting for dinner too.
They said that monsoon season started when the dew point was 55 degrees or over for three days in a row. That meant that there was moisture in the air to cause clouds to form when there is enough heat. Its all science stuff. Anyway, now (in 2008) they have changed monsoon season to June 15 - Sept 30. Really, monsoon season starts when it starts and ends when it ends ;-)
The storms mostly seem to come in the late afternoons, but not always. High winds, thunder and lighting and lots of rain come with it. On occasion, there are microbursts which are columns of sinking air that cause intense down drafts. They tend to knock over power poles and lift roofs off of houses and stuff like that. I hate those. There is usually so much rain that people get stuck in washes and have to be rescued. On a "good" monsoon day they have at least a couple rescues here in Tucson.
We live up here on the hill now and the road getting to our house is like a roller coaster. It was closed for several hours last week after a storm. The water washed mud over the road and it was impassable. I was impressed though how quickly they had tractors in there to clear it.
Here are some photos from a few of the storms we have had so far this year. I have more interesting monsoon stuff that I will post in the future.
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| a Storms is coming |
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| Getting black out |
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| Here comes the rain |
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| Watching the new water spouts on the roof do their thing! |
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| So much water coming down. |
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| I'm so excited to try out my new boots that I bought for this occasion. Now to trudge around the property looking for damage and drainage problems. |
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| Our wash has water running in it. The first time I ever saw this. |
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| More storms |
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| The storms clouds bring beautiful sunrises and sunsets. |
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| Looks like it could be a microburst |
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| I did not change the color on this photo. This is the "blue hour" before dark and it was really blue with the clouds. |
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| Morning rain last week. |
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| See the lightning bolt on the right side. |
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| lightning bolt near the ground |
3 comments:
Thanks for a very interesting post.
I enjoyed learning more about monsoon's. I smiled at the picture of your "monsoon" boots.
When the road got blocked where were you? It reminded me of the odd time when snow storms close our highways in the winter time.
How long do the storms typically last?
Anyhow thanks for your pictures and for posting.
Hi T. Aren't the boots cute? If your going to well mucking boots, are your female, you have to wear stylish ones. LOL.
I was at work when the road was blocked. I called the road hotline and they kept saying it was closed but them I went anyway and it was open. It did look like I was driving through are dry creek when I went through.
The length of storm is usually about a half hour. They move through very quickly. Last week there were lined up so it was one after another. The temperatures usually drop form about 100 degrees to about 75 very quickly.
We are having a lull in the storms right now. That's fine with me although its going to get HOT. 110 forecast for Wed. That's 42 celc. So crazy hot here. I hope I don't melt.
Hi T. Aren't the boots cute? If your going to well mucking boots, are your female, you have to wear stylish ones. LOL.
I was at work when the road was blocked. I called the road hotline and they kept saying it was closed but them I went anyway and it was open. It did look like I was driving through are dry creek when I went through.
The length of storm is usually about a half hour. They move through very quickly. Last week there were lined up so it was one after another. The temperatures usually drop form about 100 degrees to about 75 very quickly.
We are having a lull in the storms right now. That's fine with me although its going to get HOT. 110 forecast for Wed. That's 42 celc. So crazy hot here. I hope I don't melt.
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