Something I did not know


Want some seasoning with that weather?

I was listening to NPR the other day and they were discussing the Arizona monsoons. Here's the same information. Emphasis added.

Up until 2008 Arizona's monsoon varied from year to year in starting date and duration. The Arizona monsoon officially began after the third consecutive day of dew points above 55 degrees. On average this occurred around July 7 with the monsoon continuing for the next two months. In 2008 the National Weather Service decided to take the guesswork out of monsoon start and end dates. From now on June 15 will be the first day of the monsoon, and September 30 will be the last day. They did this simply to take the focus off whether or not a storm was considered a monsoon storm or not, and have people be more concerned with safety.

Third consecutive day of dew points above 55 degrees? Stars above, I thought Pagans could be were esoteric.

Back in the comments of this post I briefly explained the Arizona seasons, at least in my high desert. I said when the monsoons ended, that was when fall began. In the comments of this post, I said that I considered the autumn equinox to be the middle of fall because if the winter solstice was Midwinter, that meant that winter had to begin between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. I thought that if the summer solstice was Midsummer, that meant that the summer had to begin between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. So the equinoxes would be the middle of their respective seasons rather than the beginning.

Yep, it's arbitrary, and it puts me out of sync with the "official" beginning of spring and fall, but it makes sense and it fits my particular cosmology and mythology.

So, as long as we are pulling arbitrary dates out of thin air, I'm going to change my definition of the Arizona monsoon season. For me at least, it will begin at the summer solstice and end on the equinox.

Posted: Thu - October 1, 2009 at 06:15 PM
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