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Hi, I'm Ken Waters. I'm the Warning Coordination
Meteorologist for the National Weather Service here in Phoenix, Ariz.
My role with the office is to ensure that we provide
all the warning
[and] life-saving products that are needed for the public. So,
we work very closely with all aspects of emergency management,
also the media and the public to make sure that
any necessary warnings have been issued
for the public. We basically provide a whole suite
of weather products for the Phoenix
area and much of Arizona. The monsoon is
quite an active period in Arizona. During
the late summer, one of the products we issue are
severe thunderstorm warnings. A big threat here in Arizona,
in Central Arizona, is wind.
Wind has a big impact, [causing] everything from dropping power lines
across roads to roof damage and things
like that. We try to alert the public to those kinds of hazards.
Closely related when we're talking about monsoon are
going to be the dust storm warnings. These are a huge threat here in Central
Arizona. We have major accidents on
the interstates and on some of the other roadways whenever
we have dust storms. These dust storms typically come out of
these monsoon thunderstorms, form over the mountains, move out over the
valleys, and affect the populated areas. What we call our
monsoon season runs from June 15 out through Sept. 30.
That's the time of the year when it's more likely that you're going to
be impacted by these storms. The monsoon thunderstorms
typically form out over higher terrain, over the mountains [or] mountainous
areas maybe to the east of the Phoenix
area, as well as down to the south. And
at times these thunderstorms will move off the mountains
and come drop down over the valley areas, and bring
everything from dust storms to short-notice hail activity.
High winds [have] a big impact
here in Arizona with all the power lines that we have [that] can come down
due to these storms. One of the best ways to get the word out
to be notified of these storms is to
get a NOAA Weather Radio. These are inexpensive. You can go to
any local electronics store and pick one up for
about $40 or so. They can tell
you when there's a warning that has been issued for
your area. Not just severe thunderstorm warnings, but also
flash flood warnings and dust storm warnings.
These a big, short-term
impacts in the Phoenix area, and a NOAA Weather Radio is a
really great way for the public to be
aware of these kinds of hazards.