Huge storm wreaks morning havoc

[ben_meyers]

Look out Phoenix, more on the way! The Arizona law is commonly referred to as the "stupid motorist law", and we have a bunch of them. Last night they were driving into the flooded intersections as the tow trucks were removing the others.

Valley residents can expect to get wet Friday as the monsoon thunderstorms that soaked the Valley Thursday evening continue through the weekend.
The Thursday monsoon was one of the wettest in a decade, flooding roads, knocking out power, temporarily closing Sky Harbor and stranding some motorists.
Friday, a number of roads in Queen Creek were closed after being flooded or covered with mud. Power Road, Riggs Road, Hawes Road and Sossaman Road were all closed at Sonoqui Wash, according to the town's Public Works Department.
In Scottsdale, roads along Indian Bend were also flooded. Jackrabbit Road was closed at Hayden, McCormick Parkway and Indian Bend Road were closed at Scottsdale Road, and Osborn Road was closed at Hayden Road.
Drivers are reminded that under Arizona law, drivers who ignore or move barricades could be fined a minimum of $2,000 and pay for the cost of their rescue.

http://www.azcentral.com/

[Kali]

1. some moron from back east, I bet

There is always debate whether our summer rains are a true monsoon, but the writer of that article is an idiot - "Thursday's monsoon"?! :wtf:
Maybe Thursday's monsoon storm, or Thursday's thunderstorms, or Thursday's rain or rains but sorry one event is not a monsoon.

And yes the stupid motorist law is a good one. Idiots abound.

[ben_meyers]

2. The ones I saw last night seemed to be from "down south"

But you are right about the Az Repugnant, the quality of their writers leaves much to be desired.

[Kali]

7. yeah sorry, I let one of my little prejudices out there

I hate the idiot teevee weather "personalities" that get imported from wetter climes. The ones that lament and say "oh no, more rain coming." Um, this is arid country and most of us LIKE the rain. Some of us need it to survive. True desert dwellers celebrate the moisture!:party: :toast: :bounce: :woohoo:

[DCKit]

3. So they call their wet season the monsoon season....

It's the type of weather pattern that brings the rains off the Pacific ocean. Us stoopid easterners get most of our summer rains from evaporation, aka "thunderstorms" - the ones that pop up, seemingly out of nowhere.

I may not be explaining this entirely correctly, but I do believe this weather is correctly identified in the article as a monsoon.

That said, they could do a lot more to conserve the water that falls when they get it. In a good year their water supply is stressed and the population is far too high to withstand a real climate catastrophe in those areas where their water originates.

[ben_meyers]

4. People in Arizona argue about the terms all the time too.

The monsoon is a season and it produces the thunderstorms.

By the way, the term "monsoons" as in "when the monsoons arrive ..." is a meteorological no-no. There is no such beast. The word should be used in the same manner that "summer" is used. Consequently, the proper terminology is "monsoon thunderstorms" not "monsoons."

http://geography.asu.edu/aztc/monsoon.html

As to conserving the water that falls, we really don't catch a lot of it. It does recharge the aquifers, and the Valley does have a surprisingly high water table.

Most of the monsoon rains fall in the southern part of the state, the vast majority of our water supply is stored in the reservoirs up north and are filled by the winter rains and snow pack.

Right now are reservoirs are just about full from last years rain and snow pack.

http://www.srpwater.com/dwr/report.asp?dt=7/11/2008

[slackmaster]

5. The moisture is really from the tropics, not the Pacific per se

It's typically dry this time of year on the southwestern US Pacific coast.

[Kali]

6. My understanding is monsoon means a seasonal change in the prevailing wind direction

so from my perspective in the SE corner of AZ, yes it is a monsoon...the winds of spring come from the north and west, monsoon winds come from south and east. The main driver is when a high pressure sets up over the 4 Corners area. The moisture is primarily coming from the Gulf of Mexico, but it can also pull in from the Gulf of California and the Pacific.

The thing that happened in Phx yesterday was weird, because there is a strange broken up low pressure zone doing odd things down here along the border.


http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecasts/display_special_product_versions.php?sid=twc&pil=afd

...A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER SOUTHWEST ARIZONA WILL
GRADUALLY WEAKEN THROUGH SATURDAY AS IT BEGINS TO BREAK APART. THIS
SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO POSE A THREAT FOR HEAVY RAIN THROUGH SUNDAY
AS HIGH TEMPERATURES REMAIN BELOW NORMAL DUE TO CONSIDERABLE
CLOUDINESS. A DECREASE IN ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED FOR THE FIRST PART OF
THE NEW WEEK AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN FROM THE EAST...HOWEVER
THERE ARE SIGNS THAT ANOTHER UPSWING MAY OCCUR LATE NEXT WEEK.

more at link

edit - fixing lolcat typo

[DCKit]

9. So, all of the above agree, politely, It's a FfOOKING monsoon.

Why are we fighting this, let alone discussing the cause?

[Canuckistanian]

8. I heard the manhole covers are being lifted by the rain

I'm listening to KPHX online and the weather reports are freaky.