When is the last time you saw 6 days of non-stop rain in Phoenix?

[Buckeye Native 001]

Unreal pic of the Salt River.

Originally Posted by NorthScottsdale

HooverDam, a state of emergency is called just so the state has access to more funds to dig out from the storm. It doesn't mean that there is a big emergency or dire situation. I think it was a good call on the gov's part. They were having mudslides up and down the I-17, avalanches up north, a tornado touched down on hayden and the 101.. I personally have never seen it rain so hard in my life! it was like a wall of water coming down sideways for about half hour straight!

I'd argue its damn-close to a state of emergency up north. Sedona's on the verge of being flooded and work crews can't seem to keep up with the snow in Flagstaff. Not to mention 4,000 people without power and roofs collapsing left and right.

Haven't heard anything about avalanches, but last I heard, Snowbowl was closed.

[Don B.]

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog

According to Channel 5 News at 5am Phoenix Sky Harbor only received 1.33" over 24 hours.

(Other notables: QC 1.81, Tempe 1.5", Scottsdale 1.54", Deer Valley 2.91".)

Good moisture, but definitely spun out of control by our local weather TV/Print personalities.

Yeah, because it is normal to have six feet of water in the Salt River by downtown Phoenix.

--don

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by Don B.

Yeah, because it is normal to have six feet of water in the Salt River by downtown Phoenix.

--don

It was a very wet storm but it was VASTLY overblown by the idiotic newspeople. They made it sound like there would be super winds, tornadoes, lightning, tons of damage, etc. Id say we see more property damage by far from a big monsoon than this thing. This storm was unusual for us because of the sustained level of rain but it wasn't a big deal other than that.

I just drove over the Salt River at Central Ave and it looks like the flowing water has knocked over quite a few of the trees in the Rio Salado project area. I wonder if they've built something into the budget to replace those or not, I know the parks budget is really suffering, Id hate to see it just sit and rot there.

EDIT: For those who have lived other places, didnt this storm seem like a very Midwest storm? It reminded me of the kind I saw in St Louis a lot. Just steady rain for a few days but nothing dramatic like dust, lightning, etc.

[NIXPHX77]

in the Coronado neighborhood i received just over 2.25", which is excellent, but i thought we would get more. well there is still a good chance for more today and tonight. this has been so great for the state overall.

[PHX31]

/\ Is that for the whole week, or just yesterday/last night?

[Leo the Dog]

Originally Posted by Don B.

Yeah, because it is normal to have six feet of water in the Salt River by downtown Phoenix.

--don

Water in a river bed is absolutely normal. Salt used to flow year round before the dams. It is not out of the ordinary for water to be released by SRP during the rainy season.

Keep in mind, most of the decade we were in a drought, 2009 totals were just over 3 inches, far below our 7-8" in a seasonal year.

[mwadswor]

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog

Water in a river bed is absolutely normal. Salt used to flow year round before the dams.

That's pretty much irrelevant considering that 2010 isn't before the dams... there are dams on the river now and it therefore it's not absolutely normal for there to be water in the riverbed. SRP does release water periodically, but it's usually not this much. When was the last time flow was high enough that the Tempe Town Lake dams actually had to be deflated instead of just letting the water run over the top?

[PHX31]

A couple years ago, maybe even last year, they did the same thing.

[mwadswor]

http://www.tempe.gov/lake/images/ALakeBecomesARiver.pdf

The city of Tempe has a pretty cool slideshow on it's website including pictures of the water running through the west end of the lake and explanations about when/why the dam is deflated.

[HooverDam]

Here are Vicelords pics he asked me to post since he's currently on the DL:

[NorthScottsdale]

I don't remember the salt river ever flowing year-round... maybe a little trickle of a stream down the middle but thats it. it's been a dry riverbed as long as ive been alive!

And anyway, news people have to go overboard about this type of thing, because if they under-report it, people will bitch that they weren't warned and start suing people left and right. But I don't think they were going overboard.. the biggest storm in 17 years? I call it newsworthy. Living in Arizona people should realize that even if we get a quarter of an inch of rain it is all over the news.

[HX_Guy]

The first picture is an awesome shot of downtown.

[Sonoran_Dweller]

This was from last night (Thursday) at 10PM Phoenix time. Talk about the center of all the action!!

[nickkoto]

Originally Posted by NorthScottsdale

I don't remember the salt river ever flowing year-round... maybe a little trickle of a stream down the middle but thats it. it's been a dry riverbed as long as ive been alive!

That's only because the dams are all way older than you.

[PartyLine]

Originally Posted by HooverDam

It was a very wet storm but it was VASTLY overblown by the idiotic newspeople. They made it sound like there would be super winds, tornadoes, lightning, tons of damage, etc. Id say we see more property damage by far from a big monsoon than this thing. This storm was unusual for us because of the sustained level of rain but it wasn't a big deal other than that.

I just drove over the Salt River at Central Ave and it looks like the flowing water has knocked over quite a few of the trees in the Rio Salado project area. I wonder if they've built something into the budget to replace those or not, I know the parks budget is really suffering, Id hate to see it just sit and rot there.

EDIT: For those who have lived other places, didnt this storm seem like a very Midwest storm? It reminded me of the kind I saw in St Louis a lot. Just steady rain for a few days but nothing dramatic like dust, lightning, etc.

Yeah I was listening to KOOL 94.5 on the internet here in Austin and the way they were acting like it was a hurricane I heard there was a tornado warning for the Scottsdale area I think that's pretty unusual for Phoenix to have Tornado warnings i've been out there during mosoon season and those to me are kinda nice.

[Buckeye Native 001]

This and that monster monsoon storm from late August 2008 are probably two of the worst in Valley history.

[Tito714]

it just started raining again at my house in west-central phoenix. a steady rain that's been going on for like ten minutes.

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

This and that monster monsoon storm from late August 2008 are probably two of the worst in Valley history.

No way. For instance when the "Hattie B" was running due to floods was much worse:

http://archive.azrail.org/azrail/hattieb/index.htm

[PhxPavilion]

I've lived here for 22 years and the storm of 08 was the biggest I've ever seen. This one was rather unimpressive, it just lasted a lot longer than the typical rainy weather we get here.

[Leo the Dog]

As for the "tornado" at desert ridge, scottsdale area...that hasn't even been confirmed. Even if it were a tornado, cold core storm systems produce extremely weak tornados. These are nothing in comparison to the tornados that come to one's mind (ie. StormChasers).

It could have been straight line winds, which are very common with a cold front. We were in the warm sector of the storm much of the day on Thursday (Flag changed over to rain for a period of time). When the front went through, the heavy rain that crossed the valley, high winds, shifting in direction accompanied it. I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but the winds were coming from the South on Thurs. and Friday they were blowing from the North/NW.

This is a classic storm system, while it may have appeared to be biblical in a desert, there is nothing out of the ordinary...It does have to rain in desert during the rainy season right? I think people have just become so accustomed to drought conditions that a normal rainy season seems to be rare...aka "Worst storm of the century/decade/in my life" etc...