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Writer's pictureDeborah Kade

The Monsoon is Across "The Valley"

From our house, we could see the monsoon rain across The Valley.


"The Arizona monsoon season starts approximately in June and continues through September. Since 2008, the established dates from the National Weather Service are from June 15 through Sept. 30.

These dates only suggest a higher possibility of storms, so don't be confused if it doesn't rain between these dates." The Valley typically doesn’t get its first summer thunderstorm until early July. The start of the monsoon isn't a promise of impending showers, just a higher likelihood of rain.


"Before the weather service established these dates, the start of the season was signaled by three consecutive days of average dew point temperatures of 55 degrees or higher. The dew point means the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor. This is what forms clouds. Monsoon begins when a subtropical ridge shifts north from Mexico during the spring and early summer, bringing hot temperatures and moisture over the Southwest." 


With the monsoons comes higher humidity, which can lead to thunderstorms, heavy rain, lightning, hail, high winds, flash flooding, dust storms and extreme heat.


Not all monsoon seasons are the same, though. Some years, monsoon season is hot and dry and other years are not as hot and very rainy.


"The NOAA Climate Prediction Center has odds favoring a drier-than-normal monsoon across Arizona this year. What is considered a “normal” amount of monsoon rain has changed a lot in the past 50 years. Every 10 years, new "normals" are calculated based on a rolling 30-year average. The latest update came in 2021, giving us a new average that is based on rainfall data from 1991 to 2020.

This new normal showed an average rainfall in Phoenix for the monsoon season of 2.43 inches of rain. That’s more than a quarter of an inch drier than the previous average, which is a big difference here in the desert! With less rainfall, it’s likely to be hotter this monsoon, too. The Climate Prediction Center has odds very much favoring hotter than normal conditions in The Valley and all across the Southwest. It’s too soon to tell if 2024 will end up on this list of the hottest and driest monsoons on record, but all it really takes is one or two big storms to bring a lot of rain to The Valley."


An isolated downpour across The Valley.


We had strong winds at the house but no threat of rain.






High winds caused a dust storm by the 101 Freeway.





All the dust in the air provided for amazing sunset colors.















A few hours later, we watched the lightning across The Valley. That is not the sound of rain you hear but our pool cleaners circulating water around.


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