Phoenix flooding – not due to 'climate change', extreme rainfall events are not on the increase

Ah the alarmists are out in full force today over a rainstorm. The Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix reported 2.96 inches of rain before 8:30 a.m. local time, beating the old record of 2.91 inches on Sept. 4, 1939. Parts of Interstate 10 were flooded, with the morning rush hour just beginning. Schools closed for the day, and police asked people to stay off the roads. At least 13,000 homes and businesses lost power.

From the NWS Phoenix:

But, there is just no climatic trend as Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. observes:

https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/509021248039313408

 

The USNCA he refers to is the National Climate Assessment report from NOAA/NCDC.

 

 

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September 8, 2014 10:47 am

That is why they call it the monsoon season here in the valley. Means it can rain heavily. We needed the rain, hope it helps fill our reservoirs which are at around 50%.

Mary Kay Barton
September 8, 2014 10:50 am

Sounds just like the non-factual, climate alarmism New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been pedaling to push his boss’s “green” wealth-redistribution campaign here in New York State – See this Huffington Post article: “On Climate and the Environment, New York Is Leading Where Washington Fails”:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-t-schneiderman/new-york-climate-change_b_5761700.html

Barbara
Reply to  Mary Kay Barton
September 8, 2014 12:08 pm

Mary Kay,
CNW, July 10, 2014
“La Caisse acquires a 24.7% stake in U.S.-based Invenergy”
In early 2013, La Caisse acquired a minority interest in Invenergy composed of 11 wind projects in the U.S. and 2 in Canada.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1385505/la-caisse-acquires-a-24-7-stake-in-u-s-based-invenergy-wind
Follow the money.

Barbara
Reply to  Barbara
September 8, 2014 1:19 pm

NASDAQ
Caisse De Depot Et Placement Du Quebec
View: Ownership List
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Follow the Board connections.

Barbara
Reply to  Barbara
September 8, 2014 1:32 pm

NASDAQ
Stantec Inc.
Institutional Holdings List;
http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/stn/institutional-holdings

daved46
September 8, 2014 10:58 am

We’re not that far from Sky Harbor in Tempe and the report is we’ve had is 4.17 inches, though that may include some rain from last evening. But I went to bed at 10:30 and it hadn’t begun raining yet. Chandler (further east) is reported to have had over 5 inches.

Sharpshooter
Reply to  daved46
September 10, 2014 3:16 pm

The flooding on I-10 was due to the extraction pumps failing to kick on.
Here in San Tan Valley, we had 1 3/4 inches. My wife and I were on the patio (faces South) at midnight and we could see the storm brewing slightly west of south and it was heading northwest. The lightning was constant. We both agreed it was going to be a “Big ‘un!”.

mark l
September 8, 2014 10:58 am

Never let a good disaster go to waste.

Olaf Koenders
Reply to  mark l
September 8, 2014 4:48 pm

Prognostications of disaster. A measly record broken by a mere 0.05 inches. Seems like someone stopped the car to go pee.

Peter Dunford
September 8, 2014 11:00 am

What was causing such extreme rainfall in 1934?
So 100 parts per million of CO2 added to the atmosphere adds 5 1/100th of an inch to extreme weather events. Yawn.

September 8, 2014 11:05 am

But … but … I thought they were blaming the drought on CAGW.
C’mon, they can’t have it both ways.

Anything is possible
Reply to  Oldseadog
September 8, 2014 11:11 am

Yes, they can!

Reply to  Anything is possible
September 8, 2014 11:17 am

They most certainly can. We had a beautiful day last week here in Virginia. All because of CAGW!

David A
Reply to  Anything is possible
September 9, 2014 7:09 am

Yes, CAGW even causes a long run of average days to be very rare.

September 8, 2014 11:10 am

Isn’t this good news with all the drought issues, etc?
If you want gentle rain move to the West of Ireland or the West of Scotland where it rains a bit almost every day.

JimS
September 8, 2014 11:11 am

Dry, wet, hot, cold, it is all AGW. I know, ’cause I read the memo.

Dave The Engineer
September 8, 2014 11:14 am

Oldseadog said:
“C’mon, they can’t have it both ways.”
Sure they can, it is a cult, reality has nothing to do with it. Eventually to deal with the conflict they will bring out the tubs of “koolaid”. To relieve the pain. Looking forward to it.

Chuck
September 8, 2014 11:15 am

I moved to Phoenix in September 1975 just in time see the remains of two hurricanes move over the state. Each one produced flooding. Nothing new today.

Sharpshooter
Reply to  Chuck
September 10, 2014 3:19 pm

Remember the floods in 1993 or ’94 when they had to rebuild the Mill Avenue bridge in Tempe for the second time in 15 years? 🙂

mickgreenhough
September 8, 2014 11:26 am

From the Somerset Levels to the EU to the UN to the Club of Rome. http://www.theeuroprobe.org 2014 – 017

September 8, 2014 11:35 am

When they get more than a fraction of an inch in the desert, it floods! All the top soil has been blown away, and the remaining clay does not absorb water very well. So there is run off!
It is called physics or chemistry, not CAGW.

DesertYote
Reply to  philjourdan
September 8, 2014 11:47 pm

This is not even close. The soils in the Salt River Valley are sandy, not clay. They drain very well. Flooding happens because of the huge amount of moisture being squeezed out of the atmosphere in a very short amount of time.

Reply to  DesertYote
September 10, 2014 5:07 am

If there was a “great deal of water”. 3 inches is not a great deal, EXCEPT in the desert. Scratch the sand and you find clay. Try it.

George Phillips
September 8, 2014 11:39 am

I lived on the Rim above Phoenix during the early ’70. One labor day we had close to 7″ of moisture over the Labor Day weekend. Washed out bridges and road that had been there for 20 some odd years. Not that unusual in that country. Also during the 30’s, a bunch of folks drown while camping in the Salt River bottoms in Phoenix area. There was a good size storm in the mountains.

albertalad
September 8, 2014 11:44 am

Lol – a bit of rain in Phoenix, and snow here in most of Alberta, Canada. Up to 5cm of snow in southern portions of the province. To us, just normal Alberta weather.

Reply to  albertalad
September 8, 2014 5:48 pm

Over 17 cm (6.5 inches) at my place north of Rocky Mountain House at noon. But the temperature has gone from 0 at noon to +3 C at 7 PM so this snow will likely be gone by tomorrow night. Not unusual out here in the foothills. I have even baled hay in the snow in November in the past when we had these early snowfalls. Fed it before spring thaw so it stays dry. Horses for courses. I see it is still below 0 in the Calgary area. Prefer the snow to the rain like in Phoenix. Currently a snowfall warning between Calgary and Banff; some areas have had over 20 cm (8 inches).

September 8, 2014 11:52 am

I thought the warmunists want global rain.
Oh wait – it’s global reign they want.
Sorries….

September 8, 2014 11:55 am

All we did here in AZ was enjoy a little moisture from Norbert. As someone mentioned earlier, some places got over 5″ and please don’t lose sight of the number one cause of death in the desert is drowning!!!

George V
September 8, 2014 12:13 pm

“13,000 homes and businesses lost power…”
Ha!! I laugh in ze general direction of zere faces!! Here in ze southeast Michigan* we can lose ze power to zat many homes in brief summer shower!
*375,000 without power last Friday night after storms rolled through. 89,000 still without. Another round of severe weather on Weds this week. Oh, for a mere 13,000 without power! Of course, the problem here is we have all these big green woody things that fall over in the wind… whaddya call them – oh yeah, trees!

Reply to  George V
September 9, 2014 1:44 am

Yes and in Phoenix most of the power lines are run underground, that and few big trees makes for small outages.

LogosWrench
September 8, 2014 12:28 pm

So a 75 year separation between records is an increase in frequency?

inversion
September 8, 2014 12:38 pm

The same people who blame this on climate change have no problem calling a 15+ year hiatus in warming “weather”.

John Baglien
September 8, 2014 12:40 pm

With only 0.05 inches separating yesterday’s record of 2.96″ from the old record of 2.91 inches set in 1939, it would seem obvious that the precedence for such an event was set 75 years ago. Wonder how many alarmists are going to assert this event was unprecedented anyway.

Reply to  John Baglien
September 8, 2014 1:27 pm

Actually the amount of rain was the same, except that due to AGW the rain that fell in 1939 was cooler so it was more dense and took up less space, so it looked like less than today’s rain.
Well, the hypothesis is as good as any other ….. .

Reply to  John Baglien
September 8, 2014 1:38 pm

Actually, we ended up with 3.29 inches, though the day and 24-hour period are not over and there’s still a 20-30% chance of rain this evening.

tgmccoy
September 8, 2014 1:10 pm

Listened to ABC radio news about an hour ago within th e first 2 minutes: RECORD
RAIN IN PHOENIX !!!! Then a blurb about how this “unusual storm a HURRICAAANEE
remnant was the most rain ever!!! -Thinking to myself “Ok by how much? When was the rpevious record? Thanks Anthony now I know..
Desperation is an ugly thing….

Reply to  tgmccoy
September 9, 2014 12:45 pm

Our record came from a storm that was never a hurricane (just a TS). But that was because of Global Warming as well. 😉

Luke Warmist
September 8, 2014 1:36 pm

I live about 12 miles southeast of sky harbor where the record resides. We got right at 4 inches, which I’m fairley certain ABC national news will report as the new norm in a warming world. They’ve done it before, and I just can’t see them passing this one by.

September 8, 2014 2:00 pm

Back in 1976 Kathleen gave 2.87 inches at Davis Dam. Then in 1977 first Doreen gave 7.01 inches in Yuma Valley, and then Heather gave 8.30 inches in Nogales.
Those events are numbers 3,4,and 8 in a top-ten Joseph D’Aleo compiled of tropical-storm-remnant-rain-events for Arizona on his Weatherbell Blog.
What I notice is that having hurricanes come up the Mexican coast to influence Arizona and Southern California can be part of a pattern that gives the eastern USA very cold winters. 1976 and 1977 were the time of the ice-age scare.
Stock up on firewood, you folk up north.

Jim Francisco
Reply to  Caleb
September 8, 2014 7:01 pm

If we have two more winters like the last one I am moving down with you folks. Maybe Louisiana.

nutso fasst
September 8, 2014 2:14 pm

Last I heard, climate models showed wet areas getting wetter and dry areas getting dryer–the latter being specifically projected for the Southwest U.S.

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