Arizona Snow Pack (click here)
Arizona is currently in the 27th year of a long-term drought. (click here) Drought in the West is a long-term concept, which means that a single dry year does not constitute a drought in Arizona. Since Arizona has an arid and semi-arid climate, extremely variable precipitation is normal. Drought is instead characterized by a string of dry years, occasionally interrupted by a wet year or two. Since 1994, most watersheds in the state have experienced only a total of nine or ten wet years....The description below of Arizona weather is similar to what we are seeing across the country. The rainfall comes with intense storms, while the overall accumulation for more than half the country is failing. (click here)
Even with rainfall in the eastern half of the USA fairly normal in volume, the methods by which it is being delivered results in a lot of damage to property and some deaths.
August 4, 2017
...The new study (click here) was published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. Using more detailed and localized precipitation information than is standard for weather data, Castro’s team compared monsoon rainfall throughout the Southwest from two periods — 1950 to 1970 and 1991 to 2010. The team found that Phoenix and many of the state’s low deserts saw rain falling in much more intense bursts. This happened even as the daily average rainfall across most of Arizona decreased by as much as 30 percent in some places...
