Monsoon fuels flood and dust storm threat across Southwest while bringing needed drought relief
Despite the flood threat, the monsoon will bring much-needed rain to the Denver metro area, the Front Range and the Rockies, which are experiencing areas of extreme and exceptional drought following a very dry winter.
Monsoon to fuel flood and dust storm threat across Southwest while bringing needed drought relief
Monsoon thunderstorms will return to Arizona and the other Four Corner states beginning Monday afternoon, bringing a flash flood threat as well as potential dust storms to the region through the week.
PHOENIX, Arizona — Monsoon thunderstorms will return to Arizona and the other Four Corner states beginning Monday afternoon, bringing a flash flood threat as well as potential dust storms to the region through the week.
Storms are expected to move farther north into Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska as the week progresses. This could bring beneficial rain to Colorado in particular, where much of the state is dealing with extreme and exceptional drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
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Monsoon thunderstorms produced several haboobs — fast-moving walls of dust — near the Phoenix metro area last week.
The monsoon will peak across southwestern Arizona beginning Monday afternoon with heavy rain expected across the Interstate 19 corridor from Nogales through Tucson and into Casa Grande. NOAA's Weather Prediction Center (WPC) has placed this area under a Level 2 out of 4 risk of flash flooding through the evening.
A broader Level 1 threat covers Phoenix, southeastern California east of Riverside, as well as Utah south of Salt Lake City, southern Colorado and northern and western New Mexico, including Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
Thunderstorms are expected to become severe by Monday evening in southern and central Arizona, including Phoenix and Tuscon, with damaging wind gusts being the primary threat.
"By Tuesday, the core of the strongest monsoon activity across southern Arizona will shift farther south toward the Mexican border," the FOX Forecast Center said.
However, a Level 2 flood threat will remain across the border region south of Tucson.
FOX Weather Meteorologist Craig Hererra advised hikers and others visiting national parks to get off the trails by 1 p.m., when thunderstorms could cause conditions to rapidly deteriorate.
Monsoon shifts north midweek, could provide needed drought relief for Colorado
The flood threat will move north through the week as a dip in the jet stream develops across the West and Great Basin and interacts with monsoon moisture that will also be drawn north.
Storms will fire up across parts of the Rockies and Central Plains beginning Wednesday.
Heavy rain is expected to saturate the area near the intersection of the Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska borders, where the WPC has issued a Level 2 flood threat Thursday.
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Despite the flood threat, the monsoon will bring much-needed rain to the Denver metro area, the Front Range and the Rockies, which are experiencing areas of extreme and exceptional drought following a very dry winter.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, Denver and Salt Lake City are more than 4 inches below average in precipitation year-to-date.