Lots Of Rain In Arizona Lately

It's been a real long time since we here in the Arizona deserts have gotten the amounts of rain we've gotten in the past couple of months.

I'm not complaining. We really needed this rain but, I'm just not used to it anymore and I'm kinda wishing for a bit more heat so I can start complaining about the Arizona summer again.

I started getting a feeling that we were due for some heavy rains back in the first part of 2022. I'm so glad I went ahead and had my little cracker-box of a house re-roofed back then.

Even with all of this rain lately we're still considered as being under drought conditions though. If the rain keeps falling for another month or two, we might just be able to get a reprieve from the drought conditions we've been under for the past several years.

I've lived here all my life and in all that time I can only remember about three other exceptionally rainy seasons, not counting this year. I suck at math but, it seems like we get this kind of weather about every fifteen years or so. I seem to recall those other rainy seasons coming during our summer monsoons though.

Interesting times. We'll just have to wait and see what other weather is in store for us. I'm sure the "Climate-Change" alarmists are hard at work thinking up ways to blame these naturally occurring weather events on the human race.

HollowPoint

Well, at least you don't have to shovel rain. I'm in Flagstaff and we just got a major dump of snow. It's pretty, but it sure makes for a lot of work. Once again, we need the moisture so I can't complain either.

Know what you mean, sure seems "gloomy" outside. Been a drizzly rain here the last couple days. We sure did need it. Snow pack is building up good in the Rockies which is very good for the Colorado river.

When I moved down here from up north I left two things up there; a lawn mower and a snow shovel.......

That intense La Nina of the last three years finally broke while record cold in Siberia forced the jet stream south with huge low pressure systems. It was amazing to watch the data as it occurred. The atmosphere is settling down now.

California has been so dry these past years that the the automatic reply to any rainfall is, “we really need all we can get”.

Well, not so much as we’ve had recently. Local cumulative rainfall and the sierra snowpack are running about 100% over the average to this point in the year. The problem is that the rain is coming in atmospheric rivers which can drop several inches in a storm over a few days instead of the more historical pattern of same amount over weeks in scattered showers. The results are flooding and slides with a lot of water going back to sea in storm run off rather than replenishing the aquifers (at least the high snowpack and somewhat fuller reservoirs mean better skiing and fewer water restrictions in the coming summer, even if the drought is not officially over).

Also, at my age I no longer like shooting in the rain, so I’m getting grumpy.

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Originally Posted by Larry Gibson

Know what you mean, sure seems "gloomy" outside. Been a drizzly rain here the last couple days. We sure did need it. Snow pack is building up good in the Rockies which is very good for the Colorado river.

When I moved down here from up north I left two things up there; a lawn mower and a snow shovel.......

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Speaking of lawn mowers, one of the things I liked about dry weather is that the grass on my lawn doesn't grow very well without water. This means that I don't have to do alot of mowing; mostly just weed whacking.

Now, with the rains falling frequently I have a continually growing lawn that's a combination of grass and weeds.

I tried to get my lawn mower running yesterday but I was getting no compression so it wouldn't start. It takes far too much time to go at it with my weed whacker so I'm going to have to tear my mower apart to see what the problem is. I thought it was just a matter of replacing some carburetors parts like I've done many times before but, not this time. I think one of valves might be stuck from sitting idle for so long.

When it rains, it doesn't only rain drops of water, it also brings along with it other annoyances as well.

HollowPoint

Try pouring some Mystery oil down there, let it soak a couple of days, drain and the problem may be fixed. Mystery oil is a wonderful product. Then, a little in the crankcase and a little in the fuel should keep things lubed up.

When we moved to NM 16 years ago, we had a pretty heavy monsoon which flooded a lot of the areas here in Albuquerque and surrounding areas. That same winter, we got about two feet of snow which, amazingly, lasted four weeks unlike the usual four hours! LOL

Since then, rain and snow have been truly lacking and we've been in drought conditions ever since. Some years, a little less so, some years more so.

Seeing the heavy rains in CA make me think that there is some hope that it will come over here but it hasn't happened yet.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

--Wag--

It's been raining the proverbial cats and dogs since the early AM hours today. It's supposed to rain all day today and into tomorrow morning.

We'll get a two- or three-day break from the rain and then it might pick up where it left off.

I'm beginning to see why alot of old folks move to Florida and such; although, those states too have their share of foul weather.

HollowPoint

Your going to see a brilliant bloom of wild desert flowers on those normally bare rocky slopes this year. Enjoy! They will be gone in just a few days making it all seem like just a dream.

Love it, I tend to just sit back and enjoy my time off from work but the rain gives me an excuse to do so, lol.
At my old job of cabinet and countertop installing I had a love/hate relationship with rain, it was a pain to keep things dry while delivering and then having to work in the mud, my current job rain isn't a problem and I get to enjoy it again.

I feel sorry for all the allergy sufferers this spring. Me thinks that they're all going to get a nose full of pollen. The over the counter allergy pill manufacturers should do a brisk business this year.

I got a chance to tear apart my lawn mower to see what the problem was. As I suspected, I had both a blown head gasket and a stuck valve. The valve was easy enough to fix but a new gasket had to be ordered. With any luck it will get hear after the weather clears. It should be about the right timing to coincide with the weeds and grass in my front and back yard growing an inch or two more.

I'm retired now so that helps a bit with having the time to fix stuff. I recall being told by friends, customers and relatives that once I retired, I'd have alot more time to do the things I wished I could do while I was a professional taxpayer. There are times when I'm busier now than I ever was when I was working for a living.

HollowPoint

Glad you folks got some water, understand it cooled down a bit also. I do hope some of the water sinks in to your ground.

We enjoy visitors from the west. They start fidgeting, what is the matter? It is too close, what is close, the trees are to way too close. Oh, you do not have....trees? Not this many and this green, everything is green, yep.

Had a storm with a 'micro burst' here 10 days ago, 5 1/2" of rain in just 50 minutes, visibility was down to about 40 yards.

A friend of mine had a daughter and family move to Indiana from Nevada.....all the son in law had ever known was arid Nevada terrain. Upon getting settled, he made the observation, "my new favorite color is GREEN"

My buddy that lives out in AZ just called and said they’ve been getting poured on nonstop. Remember the last time I was out there for a big rain storm driving through the desert predator calling. Turned around and went back to the house before I got swept down a wash! It was so slippery it reminded me of when it rains on frozen snow here. Nasty stuff to get caught in that’s for sure.

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Originally Posted by Bad Ass Wallace

Had a storm with a 'micro burst' here 10 days ago, 5 1/2" of rain in just 50 minutes, visibility was down to about 40 yards.

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We had a fairly powerful microburst take place about 150 yards from my place last year during the monsoon season. I think my home must have been just far enough away from ground-zero that we suffered no ill effects other than a temporary scare.

The small businesses just to the north of us were not so lucky. There used to be a tall thick palm tree on the front lot of one of those businesses. The micro-burst caused that palm tree to topple over onto the power lines directly across the street. About four power poles in succession nearly toppled over under the strain of that micro-burst and that tipped over palm tree.

We dodged a bullet that day. Most of those power poles had to be re-aligned by the city workers but one of those poles is still leaning to the left enough to show that it sustained some trauma from that micro-burst.

I had heard about micro-burst before but, I had never witnessed one personally. They're nothing to be sneezed at if you're unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

HollowPoint

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Originally Posted by Tripplebeards

My buddy that lives out in AZ just called and said they’ve been getting poured on nonstop. Remember the last time I was out there for a big rain storm driving through the desert predator calling. Turned around and went back to the house before I got swept down a wash! It was so slippery it reminded me of when it rains on frozen snow here. Nasty stuff to get caught in that’s for sure.

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I remember the frogs coming out in the desert and all the wildflowers