Author Archives: Paul

Data released by the NOAA National Climatic Data Center indicate that Arizona, much like the capital of Phoenix, just went through the hottest August on record. The heat was not confined to just Arizona – Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, … Continue reading →

The family and I traveled back home to Minnesota today. What a day to arrive! Under a 500 mb ridge with a central height of 596 dm (over two standard deviations above normal, see above) temperatures have pushed well into … Continue reading →

July is half way over and thus far the Phoenix area has received about 1/4″ of an inch of rain (nearly all of which was from a cluster of early morning thunderstorms on July 10). This isn’t horribly unusual – … Continue reading →

The NOAA National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) has pushed out the first batch of updates to our climate normals. “Normals” are simply a snapshot of the current state of the climate, based on the most recent 30 year period. In … Continue reading →

An upper level low lifted north across the Phoenix area during the early morning hours today (Monday). With a very moist airmass in place and elevated instability, a complex of showers and thunderstorms developed. The storms developed just south of … Continue reading →

Signs point to a relatively quiet weekend weather-wise ahead for the Phoenix area. Instability will remain limited today through Sunday (400-600 J/kg with moderate capping in place). Storm motion will keep thunderstorms that form over southeast Arizona heading east to … Continue reading →

Added quite a bit of info to the dust storm event page at the NWS Phoenix office today, including some radar loops and a picture of my sweet ride. The media coverage of this event was really amazing. Our office … Continue reading →

Picture I took at work (near Priest & Washington in Tempe) looking south toward South Mountain about two minutes before this thing engulfed us. Well, I was wrong yesterday with how much activity there would be. Looks like that cooler … Continue reading →

A line of storms formed over Eastern Pinal County yesterday evening and pushed WNW into the Phoenix area from 9-11 PM. Unfortunately the storms dissipated as the hit the East Valley, though the outflow did cause a few storms to … Continue reading →

The 12Z 4 July 2011 KPSR sounding looks awfully unstable! Moisture levels have increased throughout the atmospheric column and with temperatures expected in the 105-110 range this afternoon, CAPE could easily be over 1,000 J/kg. There is still that dry … Continue reading →