What to expect out of Monsoon season this year

June 15th is the official start day for the monsoon. This week, we are also facing extreme heat warnings as temperatures hover at 118-119 and maybe even hit 120.

We spoke with Randy Cerveny, ASU Climatologist, about it all. He explains why they made the official date of monsoon season about 3-weeks before we will get storms here. He said it is kind of like what they do with hurricane season. They give the media time to get up to speed and get the safety instructions ready. It also gives time for everyone to know that it is coming.

These temperatures that are so hot are needed to get the monsoon. The temperatures for the week seem to be very hot, but it is good to get those monsoons. We talk about the graphs that help tell where the monsoon is right now.

They can tell where the monsoon is and where it started. This helps track when it will get here. We also talk about a 3-month precipitation graph. He explains that right now we have equal chances of a dry and wet monsoon. He said, “we will take what we can get.” He said a normal monsoon would be “fantastic”.

We also talk about temperatures in Arizona and what the average temperatures look like for Arizona through June and July. In the valley, there is a lot of smoke right now. The smoke is shielding the valley from hitting those temperatures, but it will not affect the monsoon.

We talk about if they will be able to tell what type of winter we will get. He said the pacific ocean will not be affecting the winter weather much this year. Last year, we did not get a big monsoon at all. We discussed this and why that might have been.