Watch: Monsoon-fueled severe weather across the West
Monsoon moisture caused fire, dust storms, floods and mudslides over the past several days.
A cold downburst in Komatke, Arizona preceded drenching rain.
(@wxpete75 / Weather Traker / TMX)
Monsoon moisture touched off severe weather over the past couple of days. We all think of flooding with monsoons. Now, check out the fire, mudslides and dust storms that also accompany the seasonal phenomenon.
RELENTLESS SOUTHWEST MONSOON COULD BRING FLOODING TO WILDFIRE BURN SCARS
High pressure that setup over Texas pumped tropical moisture into the four corner states. Much of the region is under severe to exceptional drought and needed the rain. Bus, too much came too fast for some areas.
The National Drought Monitor shows 45.4% of the continental U.S, in moderate to severe drought conditions.
(FOX Weather)
Mudslide
A couple of thunderstorms over the past few days proved too much for this hillside near Granby, Colorado. The trees still show the battle scars of the 193,000 acre fire that destroyed a fifth of the county in 2020.
A combination of high winds, drought, low humidity and downed and damaged trees after a beetle infestation quickly spread the East Troublesome Fire. It forced 35,000 people to evacuate 7,000 buildings, burned 366 homes and 214 outbuildings and killed an elderly couple.
HOW WILDFIRE BURN SCARS COULD HAVE LASTING IMPACTS
Monsoon rains caused a mudslide in northern Colorado that blocks highway 125.
(Vagabond Ranch via Storyful)
Mud, rock and timber blocks highway 125 and the Colorado Department of Transportation has no estimated date of reopening it.
Beauty
A bright side to the monsoons, this waterfall. The rain amped-up Fourmile Falls near Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Melt from much lower than average snowfall in the Rockies has hardly been keeping the falls at full force.
Thunderstorms
Some stations across the Greater Phoenix area reported almost an inch of rain from thunderstorms on Sunday alone. The city usually sees only 0.06" of rain for the entire month of June. Only the month of August generally sees over an inch of rain.
Residents took refuge as the rare June rain soaked the Valley of the Sun.
7 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FLASH FLOODS
Heavy rain hits Phoenix, Arizona
Heavy rain soaks Phoenix, Arizona on June 26. (Video: Christopher Boan / Weather Traker / TMX)
Dust storm
Heavy rain was not the only monsoon travel trouble for Phoenix. The Arizona Department of Transportation posted these photos of blowing dust north of Phoenix. They pleaded with drivers to postpone travel as visibility dropped to near zero.
Sun heated air rises quickly in an updraft and the monsoon moisture condenses into heavier rain drops. The rain drops and cold air form a downdraft which rushes to the desert floor, picks up dust and drops visibility.
WHAT IS A HABOOB? IT'S JUST DUST IN THE WIND
One storm chaser captured this time-lapse of the cold, damp downdrafts near Komatke, Arizona. Watch the rain eventually hit the ground after preceding drops evaporated in the dry air.
Downburst from supercell near Komatke, Arizona
Video captures a downburst from a supercell near Komatke, Arizona on Sunday. (Video: @wxpete75 / Weather Traker / TMX)
Fire
This is what happens when rain never makes it to the ground but the lightning does. Monsoons can also touch off fire. Dry lightning, where the rain evaporates before hitting the ground, set off this 300 acre fire burning near Mesa, Arizona on Monday.
WHY DRY THUNDERSTORMS POSE WILDFIRE, DUST STORM RISKS
Flood
Monsoonal flash flooding turned this Buckeye, Arizona road into a log flume ride. Hopefully, the photographer was not the driver too.
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The National Weather Service issued Flood Watches expire late Monday. The threat for monsoon thunderstorms decreases over the next couple of days but still exists.
Monsoon rains fall on burn scars
While rain is a welcome sight in the wildfire-ravaged Southwest, burn scarred land quickly floods and can mean mudslides.
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