Posted on 07/16/2021 5:46:09 PM PDT by janetjanet998
CNN) Monsoon rains brought extreme flash flooding to the Southwest this week, creating scenes of vehicles bobbing down neighborhood roads like rafts on class three rapids. More flash flooding may occur this weekend. Experts say the historic Western drought is to blame.
(Excerpt) Read more at amp.cnn.com ...
LOL
Using a smartphone on an odd numbered day causes tornadoes
Using it on an even-numbered day causes hurricanes.
“Monsoon rains brought extreme flash flooding to the Southwest this week .... Experts say the historic Western drought is to blame.”
I knew I should have taken more science and logic classes. I was going to guess that the flash flooding was caused by the extreme flash flooding, but it is the drought that is to blame.
I thought witchcraft was to blame, but maybe I’m being old fashioned.
I’m a New England Yankee, so maybe I’ve lost track of the lingo in various US regions — but do we say “Monsoon” in the southwest? I associate that word with, say, Mumbai or Calcutta. If it’s a real, standard US term, then I apologize. But my first impression is that the term is chosen to show that the US is just another third world country. You know: not special.
Been saying “Monsoon” since I moved to AZ in the mid 80’s.
Pretty much “Seasonal Rains”.
OTOH no one in Arizona calls a dust storm a haboob. Only the weather channel does.
The Day weather guy linked above uses the term Monsoon.
But it’s a dry flood.
Drought: “OMG GLOBAL WARMING! Surrender your money and freedom to the government, or we’ll all die of thirst!”
Rain: “OMG CLIMATE CHANGE! Surrender your money and freedom to the government, or we’ll all die in a flash flood!”
Here is the fact. The La Nina has disapated. We are in a moderate temp in the pacific. When either there is a El Nino or moderate temperatures in the equator, we get weather systems that swing south. That results is wet and cooler weather.
When we are in a La Nina, which means the water at the equator is colder, the weather systems swing north which results in dry and drought in the southwest in particular.
It’s called the Desert Monsoon, and it happens July through early September. High pressure in the Four Corners and a Heat Low in Baja leads to a southerly flow of moisture, which sets off afternoon thunderstorms in the mountains which often move into the deserts in the afternoon causing dust storms , lightning, and occasional heavy rains. The last few years we have had “nonsoons” with little rain, so this is the first year of good rains so far
Further...it now depends on the suns activity. This fall it is expected that the pacific belt area will revert back to La Nina.
Anyone can go back and see the charts on the ocean belts activities and see cooler and wet years and dry years corresponding to La Nina and El Nino.
Couple years ago..we had record snow for our area. Abt 16 inches in one day-I think the total for the year was about 20 to 25 inches. Which REALLY made them go nuts.
Liz Warren doing her rain dance.
What has the drought got to do with the flash flood....
When soil gets very dry it can become hydrophobic so that new water will run off rather than being absorbed. I remember a local gardening show talking about it and recommending several shorter watering periods rather than one long one when watering a very dry yard or garden.
Exactly. Not a single person I know calls them that here. Only media.
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