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Monsoon rain left over from a tropical hurricane hit the Valley late Friday night. Blowing winds announced the arrival of the storm front into the Phoenix area shortly after 9:00 p.m. The strong winds carried dust and sand from the desert into this metropolitan area, temporarily blinding drivers on the roads. The windstorm was quickly followed by ominous clouds and drenching rain, typical of the summer's monsoon season.
Thunder, lightning and heavy rain roared across the major Phoenix area, shortly after crossing the Gila River Indian Reservation. The storm dumped over 2 inches of rain in some areas within 90 minutes, creating flooded washes and stranded motorists. Follow up service to remove the vehicles from the washes continued through the night and into the next morning. Local television coverage Saturday showed downed trees, houses hit by lightning and empty washes with isolated cars in the light of the morning sun.
Although today is clear and sunny, weather forecasters predict the rainy weather will continue to range over the region as the aftermath of hurricane clears Arizona. Many people were seen outside today, picking up debris blown by last night's winds. Other residents took advantage of the sunny morning and lower temperatures to fertilize their trees and bushes. Local gardening associations recommend the Labor Day weekend as one of the prime times to fertilize landscaped vegetation. Forecasted rains for later in the day will take the fertilizer into the ground, where it will nourish the plants and trees.
Meteorologists forecast more rain through the next three days, offering more liquid salvation to the desert plants and landscaped vegetation in the Phoenix area. Since this is the monsoon season, however, they are predicting sunny mornings followed by cloud build up and possible rain showers in the late afternoon and evenings. Air conditioners are running strong across the Easy Valley, battling higher humidity conditions and normal 100+ degree temperatures. The monsoon season is in full force in Phoenix this summer. Storms later in the month brought havoc again to the Valley, and heavy runoff caused the death of a man and his son, who were stranded in a wash in a stalled vehicle.
The National Weather Service has written a description of the Arizona Monsoon season, which can be seen on it's web site (link to external source). A brief description from that web page is extracted for the convenience of the reader.
On a typical day during the Arizona monsoon...thunderstorms develop first in the early afternoon over the higher mountains and the Mogollon Rim. Rain cooled air from these thunderstorms, known as outflow, moves down from the high country and into the deserts. Acting like a small scale cold front, this outflow causes the hot and moist desert air to rise, producing thunderstorms. One of the most favorable situations for a large scale thunderstorm outbreak in Phoenix is when outflow boundaries approach from the Mogollon Rim and southeast Arizona simultaneously. Over the higher deserts, storms generally occur during the mid and late afternoon, while activity is most prevalent over the lower deserts during the late afternoon and evening. On most days, thunderstorm activity ends altogether by around Midnight or 1:00 AM.
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The first paragraph and it's heading are aligned left. The second paragraph and heading are aligned center. The third paragraph and heading are justified across the entire page. Any questions on the construction of this web page may be directed to John Durrett.
My practice page for Lesson 2 is located here.
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