Arizona’s on fire, with no sign of a monsoon rescue yet massing on the horizon.
Well, get used to it.
Both climate models and recent trends suggest the rise in global temperatures will cause the monsoon storms that deliver almost half of the annual rainfall in Arizona and New Mexico will come later, hit harder and linger longer.
That’s bad news in Arizona’s white-knuckle fire season, which this year has caused a host of fires across the Southwest — with two fires having already made a run on Rim Country communities.
Normally, the monsoon starts in early July. Afternoon thunderstorms laden with moisture sucked in from the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico deliver lightning, strong winds and localized heavy rain. Heated air of the desert rises, creating a vast area of low pressure that draws in wet, cool air from the ocean.