STORM2K

We're basking in 100% sunshine again this afternoon here in northeast Phoenix. I am approximately 15 miles NNE of Sky Harbor Airport at my weather station and it is 115. Relative humidity at about 4% based on a dew point near 25.

One more day of intense heat..and if this 115 was also reached at the official NWS location for Phoenix, then we indeed set a new record. The old one just one degree lower at 114.

Hottest at this house this summer thus far.

Today is our 20th day of the calendar year with 100F readings which beats the 2003 record of 16 and is well above the average of 4.5. We are at 4500' elevation so that makes it all the more unusual. Major smoke plume/pyrocumulus from the fire in the Santa Ritas.

Steve

I believe today was also the 11th day this summer with temperatures above 110...

We hit 95F here yesterday with a dp in the low 60's.

Next week says 100F is possible!

Do you even go out in those conditions?

Where's the monsoon, people?

Doesn't that help cool you guys off down there? Does it mean anything significant if you have such a late start....like this year?

weather girl wrote:Where's the monsoon, people?

Doesn't that help cool you guys off down there? Does it mean anything significant if you have such a late start....like this year?

Yeah, it means there's a FIRST time for everything, there AIN'T gonna be a Monsoon this year, just hotter than HADES and drier than Death Valley LOL! They're saying that the Nonsoons will start here shortly, "I'm holding my BREATH this time!"

Dennis

Well, the talk is that this could either start as early as this weekend (probably not) or start after the July 25th record late start. Late starts usually have no bearing upon the effectiveness of the monsoon. The monsoon of 1987 was the latest start on record and yet we wound up above normal for monsoon season rainfall.

Steve

In general, what, if any, is the relationship between the western monsoon and the Pacific/Atlantic hurricane seasons?

The relationship is complex as we have had effects from the remnants of storms in BOTH Basins. In general, an active EPAC season will help us if the storms tend to move north rather than west. In 2000, the northward movement of EPAC TS Bud resulted in our earliest start on record and in October of that year, the passage of the remnants of ATL Keith to our south and the moisture remnants of EPAC Olivia into SE AZ were major factors in the flooding rains of that month. Two ATL storms that made landfall in NE Mexico, Diana in 1990 and Gabrielle in 1995 resulted in major rain events in AZ. Other aspects of the circulation patterns over the GOM during the monsoon are very important factors in the effectiveness of the monsoon.

Steve

At least some SCATTERED storms roaming around the rim country today. That's better than cloudless skies on the whole horizon!

Maybe Emily will be the kicker!!

Yuck... Living in Houston, anything under 30% relative humidity, i'm walking around getting electrocuted on everything. I hate touching my car door in winter...

The dry humidity would be nice, but I could do without the heat

Around ten years ago, I remember a day when Minneapolis hit 101 with a dewpoint of 82.

-- You don't know what real humidity is until your glasses fog up outside five seconds after you leave an air-conditioned building.

We were home for a wedding at the end of July in 1999.

The air temperature in Minneapolis was 98 and the dewpoint was 84.

It was suffocating

They say Minnesota is one the few places where you can experience the arctic and the tropical rainforests in the same year!!

I was recently up in Minneapolis and was astonished at how torrid it was there. It was much cooler in DC and North Carolina at that time. Why is Minneapolis so humid? It is far from any major body of water, except the Great Lakes.

It comes and goes up there. Today is a beautiful day after several really bad ones.

But when its humid... its usually the result of the tropical air being forced up from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a cold front. Its very focused and its results in miserable conditions.

We are now in day 1 of the Monsoon Watch here in SV since the dewpoint at FHU has met the daily requirement-only need two more days in a row.

Steve

after living in WI for 23 years, I can tell you why the dewpoint can get really high

The polar jet rises extremely high into canada and the bermuda high is parked offshore of Florida leaving S or SW winds to bring up moisture from the gulf... However, sometimes the low pressure system is so far north, that the S or SW winds ahead of the cold front keep the warm moist air in the midwest. In most occasions, a High pressure is parked over the eastern great Lakes/ southern Canada bringing S or SW winds again with warm moist air. If the high is parked, the moisture content in the atmosphere will rise because the source of moisture from the gulf has time to regenerate.

I would agree Pojo that the dew points can climb very high well into the upper Midwest. Used to take summer vacations as a kid in the UP of Michigan, and there were plenty of times when heat and humidity did us in. The Bermuda high had a way of pumping moisture, deep moisture into that area.

Here in Phoenix, at least 5 homeless folks died over the weekend due to the extent of the heat. It has been calculated that there are between 8-12,000 homeless here, but shelter for less than 1,000. At those temperatures and humidity levels, it is easy to slip into a heat-related illness...and the obvious occurs when that does happen.

Expecting 112+ again tomorrow. If we're not careful, we will end up with at least 30 days of 110 or above this summer, and that's not good news. Storms along the rim again tonight, but they did not drift to the valley after sunset.

Tucson got slamdanced this evening by a feared Redington Pass boomer.
The UofA reported 60 mph wind gusts. Our dewpoint tonight is very close 70F.

Steve