Monsoon Stories

Ahead of monsoon season, Salt River Project and the city of Phoenix will begin cutting down trees too close to power lines this week.
Mar. 2, 2024
camelback monsoon
Monsoon season officially lasts from June 15 to Sept. 30. The summer storms typically bring about 2.4 inches of rain to the Valley. This year we’ve had just 0.15 inches.
Sep. 19, 2023
a cloud with lightning over phoenix
Many Arizonans are waiting for the summer monsoon, hoping it can temper the state’s record-breaking heat wave. One listener wanted to know how long the monsoon typically lasts.
Jul. 18, 2023
Power lines monsoon
Phoenix’s monsoon season has been off to a slow start, but the National Weather Service projects slightly increased chances for storm activity over the next two weeks.
Jul. 12, 2023
Monsoon clouds over Phoenix
Monsoon activity will remain in the Valley with chances of rain expected to increase later in the week.
Aug. 21, 2022
Rain flash flooding Mesa
A flash flood watch has started at noon today in the Phoenix area. Heavy rains are possible, with a 25% chance of flash flooding through tonight and into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Aug. 9, 2022
A snapped power pole in the Melrose neighborhood in Phoenix
Saturday’s storms brought heavy rain to many parts of the metro Phoenix. North central Phoenix, north Scottsdale and Cave Creek saw the hardest downpour with 1 1/2 to 2 inches of rain. Areas that saw the heaviest rain also experienced flooding.
Jul. 31, 2022
rainy sidewalk during a monsoon
The City of Flagstaff this week secured $2.4 million in federal funding for flood mitigation efforts. Mayor Paul Deasy said a recent fire burn scar is the main focus as rain continues to be in the forecast.
Jul. 29, 2022
A wildland firefighter at Museum Fire
The Museum Fire in Flagstaff burned nearly 2,000 acres in 2019. Then a rain event of a magnitude that only happens every few hundred years fell on its burn scar. It resulted in mass flooding of homes in several Flagstaff neighborhoods.
Apr. 18, 2022
Museum Fire
Coconino County's Flood Control District will receive $3.5 million from the U.S. Forest Service for watershed restoration in the area between the 2019 Museum Fire burn scar and Flagstaff.
Nov. 10, 2021
Lightning in Phoenix
In this season of Monsoon Stories, The Show has looked at the effects of the changing monsoon on our cities, our growth, our wildlife and how we grow food here. Now we turn to something a little less concrete: What a changing monsoon means for our state’s identity, and what it means to be an Arizonan.
Sep. 17, 2021
san carlos apache reservation sign
KJZZ's Monsoon Stories 2021 has been looking at ways monsoon season is affecting our wildlife and our cities — and their potential for future growth. This time, we leave the city and head to San Carlos Reservation in eastern Arizona, where one small farm is working to produce food — and to heal its community.
Sep. 10, 2021
monsoon rain
In this episode of KJZZ's Monsoon Stories, The Show dives into urban water — and how monsoon rains can help, or hurt, our city’s ability to grow in the future.
Sep. 3, 2021
So far, Monsoon 2021 hasn’t disappointed. We’ve seen dark skies, cooler temps and, yes, rain. Lots of rain. It’s eased Arizona’s ongoing drought — for the time being, at least. For the plants and animals that call the Sonoran Desert home, all that rainfall can be a double-edged sword.
More Arizona Monsoon Stories
Aug. 27, 2021
phoenix wash
In this year’s monsoon series, we’re looking at how climate change meets the monsoon, and what that could mean for our environment, growth, traditions and identity.
Aug. 20, 2021
ACONAV monsoon 2020 design
Loren Aragon is Acoma Pueblo, a New Mexican tribe, and his ACONAV designs evoke his people. So, in his T-shirt and scarf design for our Monsoon Series, he created an intricate design that illustrates the beauty of the rains and evokes the pottery his people are known for.

More Arizona Monsoon Stories

Sep. 10, 2020
Raquel Denis
Raquel Denis is a poet, songwriter and a Tiny Desert Concert alumnus. The monsoon season gives her a sense of place and even some fear. But as she grew, her connection with the storms grew too.
Sep. 3, 2020
Teatro Bravo Upon Leaving
This monsoon season has been unlike any other. Most of us have spent it sequestered in our homes waiting for an end to this pandemic. We’re anxious, and tired of waiting. Our situation seems endless. Susanna Velarde Covarrubias of Teatro Bravo captured these feelings and more in her poem, "upon leaving."
Aug. 27, 2020
rainy sidewalk during a monsoon
Unlike many Arizonans, Phoenix poet laureate Rosemarie Dombrowski is not entranced by the monsoon storms. In fact, for her, they conjure up traumatic memories of her childhood growing up in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Aug. 20, 2020
Lightning in Phoenix
Monsoon season is here, and that means The Show's annual "Monsoon Stories" series is back. Robrt Pela, a culture critic for the Phoenix New Times, shared his essay "Summer's Third Act," which explores the sensations of waiting and experiencing a monsoon.
Aug. 13, 2020

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