It's a hoax email. It sort of happened once, in 2003, and now circulates every year. Many, many of you have forwarded the hoax email to us for verification.
Check this out for complete details.
July 14, 2009
July 13, 2009
The Heat is here...but we held it off for a while!
It was HOT the past few days, but we really have been quite lucky! Temperatures this summer have been quite cool. We had the coolest June since 1998 and we also held the really hot temperatures off until this past weekend. This Saturday, it was the "hottest day of the year so far" with a temperature of 107 degrees. When it comes to the "first time to be at or above 105 degrees" we only held it off longer one other time, and that was in 1975! That year we were able to hold off 105 degrees or better until August 3rd.
Another bit of good news...at least we are not in Phoenix. So far our warmest day of the year has been 107 degrees...In Phoenix Sunday the high temperature was a sizzling 115 degrees! Yikes~!
Stay Cool this week!
July 12, 2009
July 10, 2009
July 09, 2009
El Niño Grows Stronger...What Does That Mean For Our Monsoon?
El Niño is the when water along the equatorial Pacific is warmer than average. This year El Niño is growing strong very quickly! Look at the graphic to the left. It's from the latest El Niño report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. You can see the very warm pool of water in the west Pacific and the warm water extending right over to Central America. The graphic below that shows the water is 1 to 2 degrees above average right now.
The image below is also from NOAA. It's a graph of the models used to predict El Niño/La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean. The black line in the middle represents average temperature. You can see that most models have a continued warming ofsea surface temperature though the winter. Therefore we do expect El Niño to grow ever stronger.
What does that mean for the monsoon? Well...it can be good or bad. Basically more warm water, means more tropical moisture for us to tap into. Often times this even means more tropical storms and hurricanes in the East Pacific. If our monsoon high sticks to our east, then the clockwise circulation around it helps push some of that tropical moisture right into southern Arizona. That means we may have a great monsoon! But it also means, with a ton of tropical moisture and possibly the left-overs of hurricanes and tropical storms heading our way, flooding downpours could be more common. If that high pressure moves into northern Mexico, which sometimes happens when an El Niño strengthens quickly in the summer, then our moisture would be cut-off, driven to the north. Our monsoon storms would have little chance to overcome the warm pool of air sitting over us. Right now the high is sticking to out east. We are watching it very, very closely for movement.
As for the winter, the El Niño pattern typically has a southern jet stream pumping in moisture from the east Pacific right into the west coast of CA and the Southwest United States. This means we could have a very wet winter, with rivers running through what is normally a cool and dry time of year. Flooding is possible because winter storms tend to produce prolonged rainfall. Aaron, Chuck, and I will keep you updated on any changes in our monsoon pattern. For now...don't fret. Although we will be hot and dry this weekend, it looks like our moisture returns next week.
To read more about the El Niño update from the Climate Prediction Center/NCEP visit the NOAA webpage.
To read the actual update go to the Climate Prediction Center webpage.
You can get the latest monsoon information at www.kold.com/monsoon
July 07, 2009
June Climate Report
Source: National Weather Service Tucson
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ISS FLYBYS
If you have ever found yourself in the middle of nowhere, or at least far enough away from the city so you can see the stars, you will know that sometimes you can see satellites pass overhead. Now if you have actually ever sat out hoping for a glimpse of one you would know that they are pretty rare (we haven't quiet made it to the number of satellites they showed in the movie Wall-e seen to the left).
Well now the people from spaceweather.com have made it easy to locate these satellites. If you go to their Satellite Flyby pageand put in your zip code you may be able to see something like the ISS Over Tucson Valley seen below. Source: Bill Morrow
July 06, 2009
Amazing Pic from Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter
Below is an email I received today from Adam Block. Congratulations to you, Adam!!!
Hi,
Just a quick reminder...
Another image from the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter will be published/featured as one of NASA's "Astronomy Pictures of the Day" (APOD). It is a picture of a pretty nebula called the "Trifid Nebula."
The APOD will be available at 9pm MST (Midnight EST) at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ .
You can see the picture that will be used here:
http://www.caelumobservatory.com/mlsc/m20.jpg
This will make my 43rd such honor according to the site records.
I hope you had a good weekend!
Thanks,
Adam
--
http://mirrorlab.as.arizona.edu
----
Caelum videre iussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.
He bid them look at the sky and lift their faces to the stars.
--Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 85-8
July 04, 2009
July 03, 2009
A Gustnado May Have Been Spotted
Powerful storms rocked parts of southern Arizona on Thursday afternoon. Near Casino del Sol on Valencia in Tucson, power lines toppled when high winds escaped one especially strong storm. At around the same, viewer Regina Wood snapped this photo in the same area. Regina asked if it could be a possible tornado but after looking at the photo Chief Meteorologist Chuck Goerge says it's more likely a gustando. This is a rotating column of air, similar to a tornado or dust devil, but it forms a little differently from these other two weather phenomenons. A gustnado is produced by very powerful outflow from a storm. This creates a horizontal shaft of rotating air. Sometimes the storms inflow or another gust can push this rotating column vertical, which is what may be happening in the photo. One minute the column of air is parallel to the ground, the next it's being pulled up and stretched into a gustnado. One of the reason Chuck believes this is a gustnado is what looks like a dust cloud at the bottom right portion of your screen. It's hard to tell if that is a dust cloud because of the trees. The National Weather Service here in Tucson also looked at the photo and could not confirm that it was gustnado but that it is a possibility. For more information on gustnados and a video explainer just log onto KOLD.com/monsoon. - First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan
Tracking the Dew Point...The Monsoon Is In Full Swing!
Although the National Weather Service begins recording data for the monsoon on June 15th, the dew point is an important factor on when we'll starting seeing the strong monsoon storms. The old way of determining the start of the monsoon was defined by the dew point. After three days of an average 54 degree dew point or higher, that first day with the high dew point would be the start of the monsoon. Generally this happens in early July. We at KOLD News 13 still track the dew point because once we see those three days, that's generally when the heavy downpours beging and damage reports start coming into our newsroom. This week with inches of rain, down trees, damage homes, and flooded washes, you can guess that we did get out three days of dew points. The first day was Sunday, the start of all our weather problems! While we love the rain, damage was extensive in Three Points with an entire street of mobile homes knocked off their foundations. No one was seriously hurt but fixing those homes will be no easy task. Check out our See It, Snap It, Send It slide show for photos of damage, sunsets, and all other photos of our southern Arizona monsoon. And send us your photos! - First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan
July 02, 2009
July 01, 2009
June 30, 2009
Watch for Warnings
Don't worry it's just a Severe Thunderstorm Warning, right? What does that even mean? Should you worry, find shelter, or just continue doing what you're doing because it's not that important? Well, even though we do not have to deal with tornados and snow we still have just as much to worry about, as anyone from Southern Arizona would know. Especially after last night's fast moving storms and having to deal with the Monsoon every year, Southern Arizonans have come to understand that Thunderstorms are no laughing matter, developing and stricking in a matter of minutes.
We all know what a thunderstorm is, right? Strong winds, hail, lightning, but what is the difference between a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and a Severe Thunderstorm Watch?
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Severe Thunderstorm Watch |
Severe Thunderstorm Warning |
While you may never see rain if your area is under a watch, you will almost certainly see something under a warning.
For a full list of the criteria for the various warnings and watches, visit Definitions of Weather Watch, Warnings and Advisories on the National Weather Service Webpage.
-Frank Ventura
The Weather Intern
Storms Rocked Arizona On Monday!
Some of you saw the downpours. Vail won out with almost 3/4 of an inch in some areas! Arivaca, Redington Pass, and the east side of Tucson also had quite a bit of rain pile up.
Others just got the wind. Take a look at the wind gusts in this graphic. Just a little off the ground and the wind gusts were 70 to 90 mph! On the ground wind gusts ranged between 35 and 50 mph. The slower winds on at ground level are due to friction with trees, buildings, the ground itself, slowing down the winds.
Because of these strong winds, we had numerous photos sent in of trees down in Tucson. In fact a woman and child were sent to the hospital after a tree fell on the pair! They were not seriously injured but it was still a scary situation.
The photo to the left was taken at Arcadia Parks Apartments. Terry Valenzueley sent in this See It, Snap It, Send It photo. Two cars were damaged when a tree came down on them. Another tree at Campbell and Grant fell on a fence with little damage to the fence. And a tree near 6th Avenue and 36th Street blocked traffic for a short period of time until workers could remove the tree from the road.
In Pearce, Ed Erbeck Jr. caught a dust storm heading towards his house. Moments later visibility was near zero! He didn't report any downours but viewer Chele Brewer said it poured for about a half hour in Willcox.
Do you have photos? Send them to us! See It, Snap It, Send It on KOLD.com. Plus report damage in your area. Leave a comment on this blog. Add any of the First Alert Weather Team as a friend on Facebook. Or follow us on Twitter. I am on there as ErinJordanKOLD. Stay safe during the monsoon. - First Alert Meteorologist Erin Jordan
