They are saying we are supposed to get our first monsoon between now and the weekend. Hopefully, there will not be a haboob first. See picture below. They occur in only two places on Earth. The Sahara desert and Arizona.

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A haboob (dust storm) rolls in from the Gila River Indian reservation northward towards the south side of South Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona.

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They turn day into night. They winds force sand and dust through cracks around windows and doors and through your car's ventilation system. Traffic comes to a stand still on the roads because visibility is reduced to zero. And the debris they carry play hell with auto windscreens/windshields, paint jobs, pools and more. First everything is covered by dust, then it rains, forms mud where mud should not be, and then just for fun, we get the flash flooding and standing water in the streets. Just some the fun quirks of living in the desert.

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wow,haboob.Good.

Only little flooding here.But i am Ok,thanks for asking,i am living on 7th floor. lol
This time,the flood was very quick and unsuspected. At least 11 deaths in few ours. I am going out to search for cute drowned guys :sm (42)::sm (32):

 
I thought dust storms in the US are a thing of the past.

killme, I heard about the flooding in the czech republic, thunderstorms and rain here too.

I got caught up in a storm today and was drenched.

Thanks for the pics guys!!!
 
It's hot as boiling period blood here.
 
Arizona looks really interesting. I've never been away from the east coast, believe it or not! I have family that's moved out to Arizona and found the dry heat intolerable. I still want to check it out now that I've learned more about it from here.
 
I thought dust storms in the US are a thing of the past.

killme, I heard about the flooding in the czech republic, thunderstorms and rain here too.

I got caught up in a storm today and was drenched.

Thanks for the pics guys!!!

The "Dust Bowl" of the early 1900's is long gone. It was immortalized in novels such as The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. The reason we get them is based on location and weather patterns - valleys and mountains combined with sudden wind shifts and downdrafts resulting from storm fronts moving in and over the area. I had no idea we had haboobs until I got caught in one on the freeway during evening rush hour. People already drive like they do not have a clue and now they were weaving in and out of parked traffic, driving down shoulders and I wondered why - until I looked in my rear view mirror and saw what at first I thought was a tornado. People just stopped in the middle of the freeway and I was caught in the middle of them so I had no choice but to stop and ride out the storm parked on the freeway. If we are lucky, we get the heavy downpours after the dust storm and it cleans things up for a little while. An hour or two after a decent rain, except for a very random puddle, you cannot tell that rain fell as it looks as parched after the rain as it did before.
 
Have you noticed the effect of global warming in Arizona?

In Bulgaria, 2007 and 2008 were the hottest on record since measurements began 100 years ago.

I wrote an article on wikipedia about it, it was unlike I've never seen before.

Dust and heat directly from the Sahara desert:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Bulgarian_heat_wave

Today is more of the same: thunderstorms and rain.
 
Arizona looks really interesting. I've never been away from the east coast, believe it or not! I have family that's moved out to Arizona and found the dry heat intolerable. I still want to check it out now that I've learned more about it from here.

You have to be a lover of the sun to want to move out here. I am here due to a family request. I was the only member of the remaining extended family that did not live in Arizona and I finally gave in to family peer pressure and reluctantly came out. I cannot stand it here. I will take 40' below zero with daily blizzards before I will ever enjoy the heat. They try to qualify it by saying it is a "dry heat". True, we have less humidity than the East Coast and such and 100'F with 3% humidity here is possibly slightly more tolerable than 100'F with 80% or more. I hate that feeling when just after you walk out of the house on your way to the car you feel like you need to go take another shower or at least get a towel and dry off. The thing people forget is that when it is 100'+ outside, it is 140'+ in your closed up car. So when you get in, your fingers leave permanent imprints and indentions on the steering wheel, if you are wearing shorts and have any kind of non-fabric material on your seats, expect a burn in places you do not want one, and any metal of any sort is a 2nd degree burn just waiting to happen - i.e. ignition. Seat-belt buckles are much too hot to touch and the outside door handle will burn the fingerprints right off of your fingers. This is if you have one of those "sunscreens" that go inside the windshield. Just imagine if you did not. And forget the A/C. By the time it cools down enough to make a difference, you are already at your destination or so close that the damage has alrady been done. My feelings on the subject is that you can dress for the cold - you can add layers and modify your coat, hat, scarf, boots, and gloves accordingly. On the other hand, at least in the prudish USA, there is only so much you can take off legally to attempt to get comfortable in extreme heat. To each their own, I guess. :sm (21):
 
As the sun ages, it will get brighter and hotter. Eventually it will become so hot on earth rock will melt.

Earth definately dies in fire, if they are still humans living on it, they will be all toast.
 
Have you noticed the effect of global warming in Arizona?

In Bulgaria, 2007 and 2008 were the hottest on record since measurements began 100 years ago.

I wrote an article on wikipedia about it, it was unlike I've never seen before.

Dust and heat directly from the Sahara desert:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Bulgarian_heat_wave

Today is more of the same: thunderstorms and rain.

We are supposed to be in the mid to upper 90's by 9AM and a high of at least 107'F today. Our predicted monsoon for the other day was not too be. Now we are on the lookout for one later in the week. They play it up like it is going to be the end of the world - run to the store and hoard supplies as the world as it is known will exist no longer. Come on people - it is some rain with some wind and for kicks - a lot of dust. This June actually was cooler than last year. The indicator they use to gauge how the summer will be is if it hits 100'F in May, then the summer is going to be extremely hot. Last year, June was sweltering with over half the month 100'F or hotter. This year, June was the opposite. Most of the month was less than 100'F when in both years, we hit 100'F+ in May. We are extremely dry and fire season is going to be bad this year if this keeps up. It rained in May, which is unusual and June has turned out to be dry, even though it is now officially monsoon season. Our weather is greatly effected by what happens in the southern Pacific near Mexico and what moves up over the Baja and Gulf of California. The monsoons seem to be coming later and later, which is an effect of global warming. We depend upon those rains to fill the lakes and such that supply water to the state. If it keeps going like it has over the past few summers, the lakes will reach critical levels, they will start talking possible water rationing and restrictions. The lake start looking like the current pictures of the Aral Sea and how the water levels have dropped so drastically. You go out to them and you can see the markers where the water should be and then you see where the water is and it is not a pretty sight. All of this leads me to believe that man was not intended to inhabit the desert. It seems we are doing more damage to the environment by trying to make uninhabitable areas inhabitable then if we just lived where there was less physical impact on the environment in the short-term and the long-term. :sm (20): :sm (41):
 
As the sun ages, it will get brighter and hotter. Eventually it will become so hot on earth rock will melt.

Earth definately dies in fire, if they are still humans living on it, they will be all toast.

If I remember from my CCD classes from my youth, the world is supposed to end in fire this time and all upon it will be destroyed. Phase two of the 40 days/40 nights program. :( :sm (19):
 
the lakes will reach critical levels, they will start talking possible water rationing and restrictions. The lake start looking like the current pictures of the Aral Sea

Oh wow, that would be hard on the population, esp families with babies, or people who need to wash more often...

Hope you don't come to this anytime soon.

We have friends from Bulgaria who moved to Charlotte.

They said the climate is very warm and can grow tomatoes until December.

Is this true?
 
Oh wow, that would be hard on the population, esp families with babies, or people who need to wash more often...

Hope you don't come to this anytime soon.

We have friends from Bulgaria who moved to Charlotte.

They said the climate is very warm and can grow tomatoes until December.

Is this true?

Charlotte has a mild climate. It has warm to hot summers and mild winters with little to no snow. Depending upon how the "Indian Summer" plays out. I lived near Charlotte several years ago and it could be quite possible if there aren't any snow or ice stroms to have a growing season last to late fall/early winter. As far as our water concerns, we need to see what the monsoons bring. If they do not arrive soon, we may be in for shortages here and there.
 
Indian Summer? What do you mean?

Amazing you lived near Charlotte!

I may visit them there next year and if you want we can meet up, I would love to visit Arizona and esp that crater.

Hope your monsoon arrives soon so that you can get a break from the heat.

How far inland do those storms reach?
 
Indian Summer? What do you mean?

Amazing you lived near Charlotte!

I may visit them there next year and if you want we can meet up, I would love to visit Arizona and esp that crater.

Hope your monsoon arrives soon so that you can get a break from the heat.

How far inland do those storms reach?

Indian summer is a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn, not long before winter. Usually occurring after the first frost, Indian summer can be in September, October, or November in the northern hemisphere, and March, April, or early May in the Southern hemisphere. It can persist for a few days or extend to a week or more. The dates between which Indian summer can be said to occur are necessarily inexact because of variations in climatic patterns throughout each hemisphere. Modern ideas on what an Indian summer constitutes vary, but the most widely accepted value for determining whether an Indian summer is occurring is that the weather must be above 21°C (70°F) for seven days after the autumnal equinox. In some regions of the southeastern United States, Indian summer is colloquially used to describe the hottest times of the year, typically in late July or August. But in the South as elsewhere, this period is more commonly known as the dog days, in reference to the appearance of Sirius – the "Dog Star" – to the Ancient Greeks. Because Native Americans were often seen by European settlers as deceitful and treacherous, the phrase Indian summer may simply have been a way of saying "false summer." This is how the term Indian giver was coined for people who take back presents they have bestowed.

The storms usually break-up over the Phoenix Valley as they approach the mountains that surround it. Some may make it up north towards Flagstaff, but most form around the Tucson metro area to the south and work north, losing strength as they move over the Bradshaw and New River Mountains up near Prescott and farther north near Sedona. By then, they have mostly fizzled out as they have moved over the forests and mountains. Most of the time, storms, not monsoons, will hit the areas to the north of the Prescott line as weather systems from the south keep the rain to the North. There are two things that Arizona counts on to maintain status quo - snowpack up North that melts and feeds the rivers and lakes; and the monsoons that bring much needed moisture to the area. If one or both are less than expected, the state is in a world of hurt. Alas, global warming has had no effect on us here. If you believe that, I have a nice bridge to sell you, slightly used, and its imported. (The London Bridge - Lake Havasu. See photos below.)

havasu_londonbridge.jpg


2021LB.jpg


London-Bridge-March-1971.jpg


The London Bridge, currently located in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, USA, was originally constructed in London, in 1831. The bridge was the last project of engineer John Rennie and completed by his son, also named John Rennie. By 1962, the bridge was not structurally sound enough to support the increased load created by the level of modern traffic crossing it, and it was sold by the City of London.

The purchaser, Robert McCulloch, was the founder of Lake Havasu and the chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation. McCulloch was purported to have purchased the bridge to serve as a tourist attraction to his retirement real estate development at Lake Havasu City, which at that time was far off the usual tourist track. The idea was successful, bringing interested tourists and retirement home buyers to the area.

The bridge facing stones were carefully disassembled and each piece was numbered. After the bridge was dismantled it was transported to Merrivale Quarry where 150mm to 200mm was sliced off many of the original stones. These were shipped to the bridge's present location and re-assembly began in 1968. The original stone was used to clad a concrete structure, so that the bridge is no longer the original it is modeled after.[2] The reconstruction took slightly over three years and was completed in late 1971. Today, it serves as a popular tourist attraction for the city.
 
Thanks for the great great Fideliodemo!

Very informative.

Why are most people in the US concentrated either on the East or on the West coast?

Is it because of the weather or there is something else?

To tell you the truth, those bush fires in California every year don't sound like the best area in the US to me?
 
Thanks for the great great Fideliodemo!

Very informative.

Why are most people in the US concentrated either on the East or on the West coast?

Is it because of the weather or there is something else?

To tell you the truth, those bush fires in California every year don't sound like the best area in the US to me?

The major metropolitan centers are located on/near the coasts - New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimnore, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle. There are a few biggies in the midwest and south - Chicago, Dallas, St. Louis, Atlanta, etc. The midwest is considered farm country. There is not a lot happening there. Even television schedules are altered for the Central time zone in the US to have shows come on one hour earlier because they supposedly go to bed earlier than the rest of the country and get up earlier to work the farms. The center of the US is a whole lot of wide open space. It consists of farm country and not much else. To drive across the state of Texas, for example, travelling from El Paso to Orange - west to east, takes 13 hours at 70 MPH - and there is not a whole lot out there amongst the tumbleweeds and sagebrush. I know, I have driven it several times. It is the same crossing other states in the center of the country - it is either farms or the terrain does not foster human habitation - i.e. the Rockies. The remoteness and lack of population/civilization keeps most people heading to one coast or the other. As far as wildfires, during the height of summer some place in the country is on fire and is burning out of control. It is a result of our own practices and a direct result, I believe, of global warming. From our humble beginnings as a nation, we first inhabited the coastal areas of the east, then spread westward as those interested in the "wild west", owning land and having more space settled into the central areas of the country. Finally, the West coast was developed as a result of the gold rush, further exploration westward and the necessity to have a means (ports) to conduct trade with the East (China/Asia). The weather in the central part of the country is considered brutal to those on the coasts, with long, cold winters and hot, dry summers. It is great for plants, not for people. People seem to feel that all of the culture is on the East coast, the West coast is reserved for the rich and famous and those that have not realized the 60's are over, and the midwest is considered "backwards" or uncool. I have lived all over the US. From Alaska to New York. I have been in all but three of the states - Idaho, Maine, and Hawaii and I can honestly say that there is something unique and original about each one of them. In addition, as far as draws and touist attractions, the coasts have the coasts first of all, then there is the theater in NYC, the movie biz in LA, South Beach in Miami, the Loop, Sears Tower, and the lake in Chicago but in the heart of the central US, you have the world's largest ball of string, the building built completely out of salt bricks that you can go up to and lick; so out in the wide open spaces of the central US, it is said to lack culture and a draw for people to want to live there. Home is not where you live, but what you make of it. There are thousands of people very content to live in the middle of the US farm belt; others have to be in the midst of a big city or what have you. :)
 
Thank you for your interesting post. Great read. :)

How come you have lived in all states bar Idaho...? and why not Idaho, in movies they present it as very backward, "deep province" as we call it in europe but I am sure there are interesting things to see there too.

Americans move a lot, and to huge distances. For me, travelling 100 km to visit granny seems a lot and far, but compared with the US, this must sound to you like a joke.

Both the east and the west coast of the US are vulnarable to disaster.

The west coast - earthquakes in California, and also further North along the cascadia subduction zone.

The East coast not so much earthquake but an impact event in the Atlantic definately will wash some coastal towns and cities.

Also landslides, undersea earthquakes...there is evidence of large tsunamis in the atlantic.

You live in the US, tell me which is the worst natural disaster imaginable that can happen in your country?

Earthquake in LA or tsunami in NYC?

The inner parts of the continent are much safer from my perspective.

This may not sound serious to you but I plan to leave Bulgaria because this area is geologically doomed.

Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey are gonna be mangled by plate tectonics.

I remember the large earthquake in Turkey in 1999, I was on the black sea coast and I nearly shit my pants.

I was a teen and it was my first earthquake - really strong and long.

Last year there was an earthquake in Sofia, moderate but it rattled my PC quite a bit, I live in a huge apartment block and it vibrated like a toy.

Last month I was at home in bed and we felt the earthquake in Madedonia, hundreds of kilomtres away.

A relative on mine was in Abruzzo when the earthquake struck there, she had a lucky escape but lives in a tent, they showed her on tv here.

Sofia has been razed to the ground several times by strong earthquakes in its history, up to magnitude 8 on the Richter.

I definately have to move, I think there is a high risk of a strong earthquake here as the big one is long overdue.

Where you live now, what is the biggest threat to life, worst natural disaster in your area?
 
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