Yesterday evening turned out to be much more active in the lower elevations than expected. Storms initially formed over the higher terrain east of the Valley during the afternoon. By early evening, radar showed an impressive nearly continuous line of thunderstorms, some severe, stretching from just west of Payson down to the Tucson area. The rather large outflows that were generated provided the necessary lift to sustain convection westward into the deserts. Activity held together long enough to even impact the Colorado River Valley early this morning. For the Valley, gusty winds and brief dense blowing dust were the primary impact versus widespread heavy rainfall. Looking ahead…early morning cloud cover and cooler temperatures will temporarily limit instability, but additional storms today are anticipated under a southeasterly steering flow. By tomorrow, the incoming trough forces storms to move northeasterly instead. Until the trough clears the area late in the week, the possibility for heavy rain exists. Because there are still locally drier soils, gusty outflow winds have the potential to briefly cause blowing dust. Moderate levels of ozone should stay focused in the East Valley today before concentrations drop off into the upper Good range due to mostly cloudy skies mid-week.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:18:33 +0000
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