Staff Writer, DB Holmes
Weather / Air Quality_________________________________
Welcome to Monsoon Season. This week and weekend are full of monsoon moisture. July 3rd, Phoenix and surrounding areas were hit by a dust storm, haboob, and thunder showers.
So baton down the hatches, it's going to be a bumpy ride especially with air quality being poor in the forecast.
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| Tomorrow's Air Quality |
AN OZONE HEALTH WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR MONDAY, JULY 7, 2014… …A PM-10 HEALTH WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR MONDAY, JULY 7, 2014… Once the cloud cover erodes another round of thunderstorms is expected to develop over the higher terrain north and east of the Valley. The steering flow is similar to yesterday (weak out of the northeast) and storms will likely slowly propagate off the higher terrain into the lower elevations later this afternoon and evening. Gusty winds and chances for rainfall can be expected. Because of the northeast flow dust concerns are low. This does not hold true for tomorrow, as models are advertising another possible strong haboob coming from Pinal County during the early evening under east-southeasterly flow. Rainfall is possible, as well. The potential precipitation and the fact that Pinal County has recently observed more significant rainfall accumulation may lower the dust risk, but a PM-10 Health Watch for Monday still seems warranted. We will look at future model runs for any necessary adjustments. Also, ozone is already elevated at some sites and a more easterly flow over the Valley tomorrow can block ozone precursors and allow them to accumulate. The increase in traffic won’t help either. Therefore, an ozone health watch has been issued for Monday, as well.
July 2014
4th-7th. Monsoonal showers, still hot for parts of Arizona.
8th-11th. Changeable skies: mixed clouds, sun. Risk of a shower, thunderstorm.
12th-15th. Clouds, few widely scattered showers.
16th-19th. Warm, dry.
20th-23rd. Unusual heavy monsoonal storms Arizona.
24th-27th. Hot, dry.
28th-31st. Continued hot.
Source: Weather Channel, AIRNow, Farmer's Almanac,
