Enjoying the Tucson summer {Monsoon}

Captain, how far are you from Catalina SP? We stayed their for New Year's and loved it. Loved the entire area actually.

jrp wrote:
To each his own. I like my desert home in the winter, but I'm very happy to leave it vacant all summer, while I enjoy the cool rocky mountains of CO. Those summer monsoons may cool things off for a few hours, but they also raise the humidity to uncomfortable levels. When you're used to a dry 20% humidity level, suddenly pushing it up to 70% feels like a sauna; and the brief cooling ends quickly with a return to 100 degrees. Those living in the desert, always welcome a good rainfall, but one of the disadvantages of that heavy rain is a heavy growth of weeds following the rain. When I return each fall I'm faced with weeks of work to get rid of the new growth of evil "goat head" puncture vine weeds.

As a thunderstorm rolls in the humidity usually climbs about as fast as the temperature drops leaving very pleasant conditions, 70% only feels like a sauna when it is 100 degrees and those two just don't meet very often. Most non rain days are in the high 90's with 12 to 20% humidity, all in all very livable. Just get your outdoor tasks done early in the day (playing golf, hiking, biking etc.). If it does stay up in the triple digits for more than a few days we just jump in the Class C and head up top the white Mountains. A gorgeous 3.5 hour drive puts you at 7,000' to 9,000' + where it is nice and cool. :B

Weeds need never be an issue "if" you simply put down pre emergent (I have used Surflan with excellent results for years), and water it in. I do our yard and several of my snowbird neighbors every winter. Apply it somewhere in Jan - March (timing the application to coincide with a rain storm as you need to water it in at least half an inch) and you won't see a single weed of any kind right through the Monsoon and on into the following winter.

Works for me.

:C

This is my 1st AZ summer in Lake Havasu City so the monsoons are a new thing to me as I lived in WI up until a year ago.

They're fun as I miss the big Spring storms of the Midwest.

However, besides avoiding dry washes, the biggest difference I noticed was the smell of rain -- AZ rain smells dry. Maybe it's because of the dust, but very different smell than WI rain which smells "lush". Hard to explain.

Monsoon season came early this year at the Grand Canyon. My wife was very irritated that we were having to tolerate 55° and wind to see the sun set each night. Here's a good still from one of the videos we shot:

That second picture that shows what appears to be clouds almost at ground level is cool. I have seen many a thunderstorm here in Nebraska but nothing quite like that! Or is that a optical illusion?

Photo 2 looks like what I saw driving up Ina into Picture Rocks yesterday afternoon.

To each his own. I like my desert home in the winter, but I'm very happy to leave it vacant all summer, while I enjoy the cool rocky mountains of CO. Those summer monsoons may cool things off for a few hours, but they also raise the humidity to uncomfortable levels. When you're used to a dry 20% humidity level, suddenly pushing it up to 70% feels like a sauna; and the brief cooling ends quickly with a return to 100 degrees. Those living in the desert, always welcome a good rainfall, but one of the disadvantages of that heavy rain is a heavy growth of weeds following the rain. When I return each fall I'm faced with weeks of work to get rid of the new growth of evil "goat head" puncture vine weeds.

midnightsadie wrote:
is that rain warm?? I,d be out in it.

You betcha! Lots of fun to splash around in. :B

is that rain warm?? I,d be out in it.