Charco del Monzón

Rain, rain, go away.   Come again some other day!  Please!

The monsoon started in earnest this afternoon (Friday).  We ran to the store to grab a few things. While we were there it started coming down. Not super heavy, but a pretty good shower.  There were flashes and booms, too. The temp dropped from 91° to 74° during the storm but gained back at least half by late evening. Hence, the remnant charco del monzón*. It lasted about an hour, coming in more like a lamb than a lion because there was no screaming wind.

When I first moved to Arizona, meteorologists would pronounce the monsoon season had arrived when the dew point reached 54°/12° for three consecutive days, almost always happening on or about 4 July each summer.

But the National Weather Service was a little twitchy with the uncertainty and lack of specificity.  Scientists like to have markers (ie the 2016 Summer Solstice falling on 20 June at 22:34 UTC).  So  several years ago, the persnickety prognosticators decreed that the monsoon season would begin on 15 June annually, discarding the dew point milestones.

Okay, it didn't make any logical sense, except to them, so we pretty much ignore that date (and them).  They also tried to change the name of the Arizona monsoon  to severe thunderstorm season.  That went over on Arizonans like a lead balloon.  So many people objected to the attempted change to what is as much a mindset as a weather event, that they backed off.

I like that AZ is unique.

*puddle of the monsoon