This 2016 monsoon so far is slow in bringing needed water to the high desert. The
Painted Pony Resort is at about 2.8" so far (for a yearly total of about 4.5"). Yesterday though the Painted Pony Resort received its' first traditional monsoon storm. A gully washer, a chunk-floater, a fence lifter, a frog strangler, or a trash mover (1). In other words lots of rain in a short period of time. Although only delivering 0.3" it had some small hail embedded which made it all the more monsoon like. After the storm was past I went back out, after drying off, and saw a dust storm moving south on the other side of the valley, completely obscuring the Chiricahua Mountains. This was followed by rain according to a friend who lives across the valley, so the Arizona side of the valley also received moisture. I have seen this phenomena before, but in terms of extremes the photographs below show how the weather can be radically different across the 9 mile width of the valley.
 |
| Weather radar screen capture of monsoon storm that delivered 0.3" of rain. | |
|
 |
| The view before the dust storm moved down the west side of the valley. |
 |
| The dust storm a short time later. |
1.
https://dare.news.wisc.edu/same-thing-different-words-synonyms-by-region/
We have had a trace of rain daily plus a day of 0.5" . I did see the dust 'wall' when I looked north with rain towards the Peloncillos. A short while later it rained here AND all over so that was a universal rain. A late monsoon is better than NO monsoon. We have lots of critters drinking water here so it's mighty hard for the animals.
ReplyDeleteI spoke with some guests from northern New Mexico and their monsoon has also been weak this year. But all the work in the garden is paying off, lots of butterflies, bees, and a few hummingbirds taking advantage of the flowers.
ReplyDelete50% chance of rain Monday and Tuesday so definitely not a normal "monsoon" we'll take what we can get
ReplyDeleteWe often pray for rain at church.
and we say a praise for what rain we DO get.............
ReplyDeleteLiving in a marginal landscape take creativity, patience, time, and has a steep learning curve. I'm thankful for any rain we do receive and try to work with the landscape to maximize its productivity so those visiting from more productive landscapes see the beauty of the high desert.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, we sat on our van [no longer own the van so I know it was years ago] and watched lightning all around. Lightning going down, up, sideways, some that looked like varicose veins. We were in the only place without a direct storm. My eyes got fatigued so I came indoors but hubbie watched longer. Yesterday we had loud thunder twice, just 0.15" of rain and then storm was done. The dog didn't like the loud thunder but then again everything scares him. Rain is in the forecast now for 6 of the next 10 days. And 50 or 60% chance some days so I think the LATE monsoon has arrived!
ReplyDeleteWatching lightening storms around the valley is quite an experience and I have also watched the displays. Though I have not been successful in getting any really good photographs. I only got a trace of rain here but I notice a storm over Sulphur Canyon this morning and a few drops have fallen so far. Hopefully more is on its way, Hurray for the Monsoon.
ReplyDeleteYep, weather forecast [Intellicast]says 50% or so chance of rain in 5 days of a 10 day forecast. Of course the farther out the forecast, the more one doubts the accuracy. Being a weatherman or weatherwoman is a job where one can be WRONG and still keep one's job! Boggles the mind. We have to wait for "eye witness weather"
ReplyDeleteThe "eye witness report" from here was 0.46" for yesterday. The couple of bigger storms I've had came from the east northeast rather from the west southwest and the monsoonal flow also seems weaker this season. I've not read any analysis about this years monsoonal flow so I don't know if this is indicative of weaker monsoon, I'm just happy for the rains.
ReplyDeleteWe had more than 0.45" but then the power outage. I will look in rain gauge soon and see how much more we had on August 1. Have you heard the history of having electricity in Rodeo? Two guys with generators and if one woman plugged in her iron, it caused electricity to dip in other homes. Columbus Electric is better than that but sheesh! Wish they'd BURY the lines as a broken pole caused us HOURS of no power yesterday; wish we had our well hooked to solar.
ReplyDeleteYes, I heard that before rural electrification and Columbus Electric there was a private supplier of electricity in Rodeo. I've never heard how large an area they covered and I've heard the stories about spotty service. Columbus Electric is much better and outages get prompt attention. I lost power yesterday and the day before but fortunately the well is connected to storage tanks which are connected to the a pressure pump which fills the pressure tanks, so I do not lose water pressure when the power goes out. I've often thought a solar based well pump for water storage was the way to go, but I think that for decent water pressure you would still need a pressure pump or raise the storage tank for a gravity pressurized system.
ReplyDeleteWell if the power were out for days, a solar pump is the way to go; our well is at 380 feet though, so don't know how a solar pump would do at that depth. Water is LIFE though.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I left here [11:30 AM] just before a storm dumped 0.80" rain and rearranged our road. [neighbor sent photo of Owl Canyon running across Rattler Road] I followed one set of tracks in the dark up Sky Ranch Road when I returned at 8 PM. We sat and waited out a hard downpour near Double Adobe turnoff on Rte 80 [with a dozen other vehicles including an 18 wheeler - we could NOT see] so outran the Rodeo storm but not the other one.
During the big freeze several years ago I lost pipes and equipment but was able to dip water from the storage tanks which worked well while I got things fixed. Perhaps just a 500 gallon storage tank off to one side would solve your problem for those emergencies when the power is out.
ReplyDeleteWe have a 2500 gallon tank here that hubbie HAD to buy but it's not hooked up to anything nor full of water.........gotta work on that, sheesh
ReplyDeleteGreat, your all set.
ReplyDeleteYesterday we had a paltry 0.05" rain but I was glad of that as dry lightning started a fire across the valley. One couple has a Hot Shot crew by their place over night. I thought the fire was OUT but I guess not. Sunnysides of Douglas, Portal Rescue and Rodeo Fire all helped most of the day.
ReplyDeleteThe wind direction kept changing which saved one building but I wonder how many acres burned?
I only picked up 0.02" from yesterdays storms but saw heavier rains all around me. I noticed the smoke around Horseshoe Canyon yesterday afternoon and the shifting winds. One moment all the smoke was headed west then it shifted north. I didn't see any postings on Portal Rescue's Facebook page about the size of the fire but glad there is no smoke visible this morning.
ReplyDeleteThe fire chief said a hand type crew slept at PR building and did mop up yesterday. I was told 300 acres burned.
ReplyDeleteWe had 1.15" rain yesterday, a lot of it in a fast downpour; I have to see how our road held up; caught some half grown Scaled quail out with their parents. They went under an ocotillo for a time but I hope they did not get hurt by that hard fast rain.
Wow, a good rain at your place. I recorded only 0.02" again from yesterday, 8 miles north of you. I watched rains in the Chiricahuas during yesterdays buildup but little made its way here.
ReplyDelete