[PHX-Skywarn] Spotters In E.V. Needed, East Valley Tribune

[Allen Sklar]

Hello All,
Saw this today in the paper.....

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/123277

August 16, 2008 - 6:06PM 
Weather spotters needed for Santan area
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Sarah J. Boggan, Tribune
When it rains in the Santan Foothills, residents say it really pours -
and this year they've seen more than ever. But not officially. Santan
Foothills residents say data collected by the National Weather Service
and reported by the media doesn't always reflect what happens in their
backyards. 

But weather service officials say with all of the growth on the Valley's
outskirts they need more volunteer weather spotters trained to help
report what's really happening, particularly in northwest Pinal County.

Arizona's monsoon storms are sporadic, and warning coordination
meteorologist Ken Waters said it's hard to capture data from all
locations.

"The storms here are very localized," Waters said. "It's not at all
unusual to have a cell that produces 3 or 4 inches of rain and a mile
away you get nothing or just a trace."

Waters said that without trained spotters the weather service can miss
the need for warnings of dust storms, flooding, wind, hail and other
dangerous weather.

"Weather changes fast because we have rapidly developing storms during
the monsoon season," Waters said. "We know something is going to happen
but we don't always know where it is going to happen - but it will
happen quick."

Waters said time is essential during a storm because within 30 minutes
it could go from starting up to being severe weather.

"We could start putting out warnings and then 15 to 20 minutes later
it's gone," he said.

Resident Alden "Ros" Rosbrook, who has lived in the San Tan Mountains
region for more than 20 years, said this year's monsoon brought more
rain than he's ever seen.

"There is some phenomenon with these mountains," he said. "We've had
several 4-inch storms."

Major rain events in early July and occasional isolated storms have
dumped buckets of rain in the area causing the water to rush off the
mountains and flood housing developments below.

Rosbrook's neighbors, Mike and Debbie Perry, keep rain gauges in their
backyard and have measured a couple of storms that yielded 4 inches of
rain.

"The rain amounts are so much more than you hear reported in the news,"
said Debbie Perry who has lived in the Santan area for more than five
years.

>From the same storm that measured more than 4 inches in the San Tan
Mountains, the National Weather Service showed rain totals in the Queen
Creek area anywhere between an inch to just over 2 inches of rain.

Perry said she uses two standard rain gauges located in two different
places in her yard.

"They are pretty consistent," she said.

Perry grew up in Chandler, so it's not as if she doesn't know what to
expect during the monsoon. She said she can't explain why they're seeing
more rain.

"Last year we had a couple of 4-inchers as well," she said. "In the last
two years we've had some pretty heavy downpours. It's not like anything
I've seen before."

More information on becoming a weather spotter for the National Weather
Service is available at www.weather.gov/phoenix, or by calling (602)
275-0073.

Waters said the next classes should be scheduled for the beginning of
2009.

"We generally don't need anymore spotters in areas like Phoenix or Tempe
- they're already out there and there are so many," he said."What really
helps us is getting people in that outlying area. We'd love to have
spotter reports from the San Tan Mountains area."

 
 
Allen Sklar
Tempe AZ USA