Monsoon petering out, but winter could be wet
Sep 21, 2012, 8:09 AM | Updated: 8:09 am
PHOENIX — After dumping its average of 3 inches of rainfall this summer at Sky Harbor and much more than that in the east Valley there’s only a slight chance that the monsoon has anything left to deliver.
“We’re looking at a slow demise of moisture and any type of southerly flow that would sustain the monsoon,” said Valerie Meyers of the National Weather Service.
Meyers added that El Nino continues to develop in the Pacific Ocean. Ocean temperatures have been warming for weeks and that usually adds up to a wetter and warmer winter in Arizona.
“If everything pans out and we get some good winter rainfall, it will put another dent in the drought.”
The last El Nino in 2009-2010 delivered several inches of rainfall in the Valley and 321 inches of snow at Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort near Flagstaff.