June 15th kicks off the official Monsoon in Arizona, but unfortunately the winds haven’t shifted much, everything is bone dry, humidity is extremely low and there’s no precipitation in sight .. yet.
The average start date for monsoon is around mid-July, but with such whacky weather patterns this year, we’ll just have to wait and see what Mother Nature has in store for us.
In addition to incredible light shows and life giving rains, monsoon can also cause major dust storms (haboobs) due to the high gusting winds. And since the state is so parched, the chance of a haboob encounter is high until some moisture falls from the sky.
If you find yourself driving in one of these nasty dust storms, AZ DPS suggests these safety tips:
- Turn on your headlights to make yourself as visible as much as possible.
- Slow down and keep some distance between you and the car ahead of you so you can react if something goes bad.
- If conditions get too bad, pull off the road as far as you can then TURN OFF all of your lights. And keep your foot OFF the brake — you don’t want brake lights on since someone may see them thinking that’s where the road is and they might rear end you.
- Be prepared every time you get on AZ freeways and highways. You never know when you might get caught in a backup. Accidents can take several hours to clear so always take water and food with you on every trip.
- Stay current on traffic warnings or advisories on the A-DOT AZ 5-1-1 site http://www.az511.com/adot/files/
Also .. check out my Monsoon blog post from last June with some cool pics and commonsense safety tips.
p.s. Another wildfire has erupted down in Sierra Vista (near Mexican border) .. so PLEASE be careful with cigarettes, fires, grills, off-road vehicles and fireworks in the coming weeks! Get some Wildfire mitigation tips here .. and .. on APN forum and please share the links and tips with others.
Stay safe out there, itsa
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