27 thoughts on “This is what the radar looks like right before your power goes out for a day”
Whoa, quite an impressive storm, especially for a place only put in a marginal risk area. Looking through the storm reports there and the type of widespread damage seems like something you'd get in an organized line, but this looks like it was just one storm that happened to hit Phoenix.
It came out of nowhere. Looking at the radar half an hour before, there was basically nothing. I guess this happens during what they call "Monsoon Season" here. A lot of heat, a little moisture, and whammo!
Yeppers. I wanted you to witness an actual monsoon storm, but I got more than I bargained for.. (Oh man, this one's *really* intense! Fuck! It sounds like hail! )
That's the way it works here. We don't generally get those organized storm lines. Instead, a small supercell boils up out of the heat and humidity and unleashes localized holy hell.
We see supercells occasionally but that came on faster than I'm used to. It's weird, like I know it's "supposed" to work that way out there but I still get surprised when I see it.
Once you've lived here awhile you can predict what the weather is going to do by watching the clouds build- what direction, how high they're building, whether they mature to form those anvil heads and whether there's enough upper level wind for the tops to get torn off or if they will continue to stew up as the afternoon goes along. By judging that, along with the heating and relatively humidity, you can get a pretty good handle on when, where or if there's going to be a real storm. At work yesterday we were watching the build up and I decided to head home, figuring I had about an hour and a half- sure enough, 90 minutes later we got tagged pretty good.
They do seem to come out of nowhere if you're not used to it. You can watch a mass of clouds blow up into something threatening in a matter of 15-20 minutes. And those microbursts can pack a huge wallop- 60-70 mph straight line winds, a couple of inches or more rain in a matter of minutes, plus hail- and yet several blocks away the sun might still be shining.
I'm getting used to the dark clouds in the late afternoon but the heat island of PHX has been breaking that shit up so far–until last night.
Sure was fun going without a/c for 23 hours!
that's what the pool is for… You're right, Phoenix's heat island effect has gotten so bad that it's diminishing the rainfall totals up there. It actually pushes the storms around the outskirts or breaks them up
Well, that's what the neighbors' pool is for . 😉
that works too! (everybody has pools here, you can always find one) I hope you've learned not to try to cross those arroyos when they're flowing, it's not a cheap lesson to learn the hard way.
There was a lightning bolt the other day that looked like a ribbon. Flash for two seconds and, to the eye, looked about a 1/4 inch wide, about 10 miles away.
This was my busiest time toward the end of my career. Working in the desert, fixing storm damage, waiting for the next storm, rinse, repeat. [This] was probably the worst one.
That's why we have our stupid motorist laws here. Too many people underestimate the power of the flash floods and try to cross the arroyos, only to be washed away. Even if no one gets hurt or killed it still costs a whole bunch of money to rescue those fools, so now they get billed for the rescue costs.
I've watched too many idjits have their badass 4×4 SUVs pushed around like a ragdoll by what appears to be not that deep water to even think about it. Not to mention all the times I've seen huge logs and other debris cruising along in the current- ready to dent the side of your car, even if you do make it across
Yes– the fierce current, the branches, the silt and earth. [helicopter rescue] "But I got the Super Swamper Tiger Paws on my Chevy TahoeHummer Derp just last week! I guess this taught me a lesson!"
That's why I'd never buy waterfront property.
That, and the idiot yahoos roaring by in their speedboats, of course.
you guys are in some serious trouble and El Niño is not going to bring nearly enough precipitation to fix that. Dry may well be California's new normal (as they're finding out, may have always been the normal there)
Ooh, yeah! When I get enough money together to retrofit/extend the cottage, I'm putting in rainwater collection and grey water systems.
Of course, building regs also mean I have to drill a well and plumb in a 'normal' toilet and bathroom fittings, whether I use it or not. Thanks, bureaucracy!
Still, they'll have to tear my wood-fired hot tub from my pruned, lifeless hands!
Whoa, quite an impressive storm, especially for a place only put in a marginal risk area. Looking through the storm reports there and the type of widespread damage seems like something you'd get in an organized line, but this looks like it was just one storm that happened to hit Phoenix.
It came out of nowhere. Looking at the radar half an hour before, there was basically nothing. I guess this happens during what they call "Monsoon Season" here. A lot of heat, a little moisture, and whammo!
Yeppers. I wanted you to witness an actual monsoon storm, but I got more than I bargained for.. (Oh man, this one's *really* intense! Fuck! It sounds like hail! )
That's the way it works here. We don't generally get those organized storm lines. Instead, a small supercell boils up out of the heat and humidity and unleashes localized holy hell.
We see supercells occasionally but that came on faster than I'm used to. It's weird, like I know it's "supposed" to work that way out there but I still get surprised when I see it.
Once you've lived here awhile you can predict what the weather is going to do by watching the clouds build- what direction, how high they're building, whether they mature to form those anvil heads and whether there's enough upper level wind for the tops to get torn off or if they will continue to stew up as the afternoon goes along. By judging that, along with the heating and relatively humidity, you can get a pretty good handle on when, where or if there's going to be a real storm. At work yesterday we were watching the build up and I decided to head home, figuring I had about an hour and a half- sure enough, 90 minutes later we got tagged pretty good.
They do seem to come out of nowhere if you're not used to it. You can watch a mass of clouds blow up into something threatening in a matter of 15-20 minutes. And those microbursts can pack a huge wallop- 60-70 mph straight line winds, a couple of inches or more rain in a matter of minutes, plus hail- and yet several blocks away the sun might still be shining.
I'm getting used to the dark clouds in the late afternoon but the heat island of PHX has been breaking that shit up so far–until last night.
Sure was fun going without a/c for 23 hours!
that's what the pool is for… You're right, Phoenix's heat island effect has gotten so bad that it's diminishing the rainfall totals up there. It actually pushes the storms around the outskirts or breaks them up
Well, that's what the neighbors' pool is for . 😉
that works too! (everybody has pools here, you can always find one) I hope you've learned not to try to cross those arroyos when they're flowing, it's not a cheap lesson to learn the hard way.
Like I'd let him drive my car..
Been there.
<img src="https://instaweatherinsights.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/derechoradar2.jpg"/>
Genset or GTFO
Dear east coast: We're sorry for sending you so many derechos that year. -Ohio
There was a lightning bolt the other day that looked like a ribbon. Flash for two seconds and, to the eye, looked about a 1/4 inch wide, about 10 miles away.
Welcome to monsoon season in Arizona
This was my busiest time toward the end of my career. Working in the desert, fixing storm damage, waiting for the next storm, rinse, repeat. [This] was probably the worst one.
It's always incredible just what water can do. Gives life, yet can take it away so easily.
That's why we have our stupid motorist laws here. Too many people underestimate the power of the flash floods and try to cross the arroyos, only to be washed away. Even if no one gets hurt or killed it still costs a whole bunch of money to rescue those fools, so now they get billed for the rescue costs.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people here honestly think "it's just cresting the bumper, I can get outta this".
I've watched too many idjits have their badass 4×4 SUVs pushed around like a ragdoll by what appears to be not that deep water to even think about it. Not to mention all the times I've seen huge logs and other debris cruising along in the current- ready to dent the side of your car, even if you do make it across
Yes– the fierce current, the branches, the silt and earth. [helicopter rescue] "But I got the Super Swamper Tiger Paws on my Chevy
TahoeHummerDerp just last week! I guess this taught me a lesson!"That's why I'd never buy waterfront property.
That, and the idiot yahoos roaring by in their speedboats, of course.
ahem, the monsoon thunderstorms. You'll never get people to not use monsoon colloquially though
you guys are in some serious trouble and El Niño is not going to bring nearly enough precipitation to fix that. Dry may well be California's new normal (as they're finding out, may have always been the normal there)
that's way cool. let us know how well it works
I'm happy to live in a building that does rainwater harvesting (!) It's LEED platinum. Yay!
Ooh, yeah! When I get enough money together to retrofit/extend the cottage, I'm putting in rainwater collection and grey water systems.
Of course, building regs also mean I have to drill a well and plumb in a 'normal' toilet and bathroom fittings, whether I use it or not. Thanks, bureaucracy!
Still, they'll have to tear my wood-fired hot tub from my pruned, lifeless hands!