This active monsoon season: good or bad for Arizona? It’s a little of both

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) – Arizona has seen quite a lot of monsoon exercise this season throughout the complete state. So is that good or dangerous? It seems it’s a bit of each.

It’s been a dramatic monsoon season, and it’s not over. “The rainfall has positively helped the drought,” mentioned Marvin Percha, with the Nationwide Climate Service in Phoenix.

The storms have stored the NWS busy, producing water quantities we don’t normally see. “For those who go even additional north, I seen that Crown King received 20 inches of rain. So total it’s positively been above regular,” mentioned Percha. Brief time period, NWS mentioned this helps the drought, however long run Percha mentioned this doesn’t make a lot of a drought dent, and summer season storms aren’t what’s actually wanted.

“We’d like quite a lot of snow within the winter months. In order that’s the place many of the runoff comes even in most of our native reservoirs within the Salt River,” mentioned Percha. He provides that the water additionally helps to minimize hearth hazard, preserving wildfires at bay.

However with the great comes the dangerous, like mosquitos. “They don’t want a lot to breed,” mentioned Percha.

And it’s not simply water affecting individuals; robust winds have additionally been inflicting bother. “Generally over 60 miles an hour. They’re able to taking energy poles down and knocking out electrical energy,” mentioned Percha. Hundreds of Arizonans have handled energy outages this summer season, placing a pressure on our utility corporations.

So far as the drought goes, NWS mentioned that though we’re getting quite a lot of water proper now, it’s so sizzling that evaporation takes many of the water again into the air, and that’s why these winter storms and snowfall up north and east are so necessary.

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