Weather - Precipitation

Meteorology versus Meteors

If a meteorologist studies weather, what do we call a person who studies meteors? In the days of ancient Greeks, meteorology was the study of the atmosphere, and anything that came out of it - rain, sleet, snow, hail. So, not too surprising that meteorology became the study of weather. But what about meteors? The science of meteors is called Meteorics. Accordingly, a student of meteors is a meteoriticist. A tongue twister to be sure.

Portal 10-Day Weather Forecast

Local Weather Stations

David Churchill's ASV Station

Bruce Weertman’s Portal Peak Ranch Weather Station

Limestone Mountain

Cave Creek Ranch

Randy Pfeiffer’s Portal Ridge Weather Station

Monthly Summary

Check Out The Arizona Drought Monitor

(Scroll down to last photo)

Yes, we had a few good rains in July. It looked like a promising monsoon season. But reality set in and August, so far, is pathetic.

One of the main springs at SWRS has stopped running, for the first time ever. I fear this is what we are all heading into. Just about everything we used to think about the weather here is no longer true. The standard “line” was that we needed the heat to draw in the moisture. We have now had two of the hottest summers ever and still not much rain. Our winds right now are coming from the west, not the Caribbean. Alabama has the Gulf of Mexico (America?) to its immediate south, to bring moisture, but we have Mexico in the way. In May the National Weather Service said we will have a wetter than usual monsoon. Now, of course, they are telling us why we are experiencing a drier than expected monsoon, which I call a NONSOON!

Check out the drought monitor and our recent haboob photos at the bottom of this page. We are in the Extreme-Exceptional drought categories.