WunderBlog Archive » Category 6™
Category 6 has moved! See the latest from Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson here.Rain blesses Phoenix
Rain finally blessed Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday, after a record 143 straight days without precipitation. The rains were part of a large and intense weather system that spawned tornadoes that killed two people in southern Missouri, about 80 miles south of St. Louis. The storm also brought snow to the San Francisco Bay area, creating a 28-car pile up on Highway 101 just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The stormy weather is expected to continue today, with the potential for a large tornado outbreak over the Midwest. Violent, long-track F3 or stronger tornadoes are very possible today and tomorrow in association with this powerful weather system.
At Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport, 1.4" of rain was recorded, and other areas of the city received up to three inches. Some mountain areas received up to six inches of precipitation, much of it falling as snow. Flagstaff, Arizona, which had recorded only about three inches of snow for the entire winter, had nearly 20 inches of snow fall. Numerous road closures and hundreds of traffic accidents accompanied the storm, but not many residents are complaining. The big rains and snow will help delay the start of Arizona's fire season, which was widely feared to be the worst on record due to the long dry spell. Phoenix's normal rainfall for this the year ending March 12 is 2.0 inches, so the 1.4 inches from Saturday's storm puts them close to normal precipitation for the year. Organizers of the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade and the Chandler Ostrich Festival must have bee cursing their bad luck, though, since their events happened on a rainy, cold Saturday with 25 mph winds--after 20 straight Saturdays with near perfect weather!
Figure 1. Radar estimated precipitation for the Phoenix area for Saturday, March 12, 2006. The sharp radiating lines pointing towards the radar are due to the effect of mountains blocking the radar beam.
What is the all-time record for dry spells?
Phoenix's 143 day-long dry spell may seem like a long one, but it doesn't compare to the U.S. record of 767 days, set in Bagdad, California, from October 3, 1912, through November 8, 1914. The town, on old Route 66 in the Mojave Desert in southern California, is the setting of the popular book and movie, Bagdad Cafe. The town has been nearly abandoned since 1991. Of course, neither Bagdad nor Phoenix can hold a candle to some regions of the Atacama Desert in Chile, where rain has not been recorded in the past century.
Monday's blog: Probably on the severe weather expected for today.
Jeff Masters
At Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport, 1.4" of rain was recorded, and other areas of the city received up to three inches. Some mountain areas received up to six inches of precipitation, much of it falling as snow. Flagstaff, Arizona, which had recorded only about three inches of snow for the entire winter, had nearly 20 inches of snow fall. Numerous road closures and hundreds of traffic accidents accompanied the storm, but not many residents are complaining. The big rains and snow will help delay the start of Arizona's fire season, which was widely feared to be the worst on record due to the long dry spell. Phoenix's normal rainfall for this the year ending March 12 is 2.0 inches, so the 1.4 inches from Saturday's storm puts them close to normal precipitation for the year. Organizers of the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade and the Chandler Ostrich Festival must have bee cursing their bad luck, though, since their events happened on a rainy, cold Saturday with 25 mph winds--after 20 straight Saturdays with near perfect weather!
Figure 1. Radar estimated precipitation for the Phoenix area for Saturday, March 12, 2006. The sharp radiating lines pointing towards the radar are due to the effect of mountains blocking the radar beam.
What is the all-time record for dry spells?
Phoenix's 143 day-long dry spell may seem like a long one, but it doesn't compare to the U.S. record of 767 days, set in Bagdad, California, from October 3, 1912, through November 8, 1914. The town, on old Route 66 in the Mojave Desert in southern California, is the setting of the popular book and movie, Bagdad Cafe. The town has been nearly abandoned since 1991. Of course, neither Bagdad nor Phoenix can hold a candle to some regions of the Atacama Desert in Chile, where rain has not been recorded in the past century.
Monday's blog: Probably on the severe weather expected for today.
Jeff Masters
OMG Snow in Phoenix!!!
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