How do you know you’ve officially entered monsoon season here in the Valley of the Sun? When you go to the Accuweather website and see the very first “Special Weather Statement” of the year. Here’s what this year’s first one looked like as of Tuesday AM:

Special Weather Statement in effect until Wednesday, 7:00 AM MST. Source: U.S. National Weather Service

…HOT TEMPERATURES CONTINUE THROUGH MIDWEEK AS CHANCES FOR SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS BEGIN TO INCREASE HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND…

HOT TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE FOR THE SOUTH-CENTRAL AND SOUTHWESTERN
ARIZONA DESERTS TODAY AND WEDNESDAY. POTENTIAL FOR HEAT-RELATED
IMPACTS STILL REMAIN…SO THOSE SENSITIVE TO THE HEAT OR THOSE THAT
HAVE SCHEDULED OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION.

BEGINNING WEDNESDAY…MONSOONAL MOISTURE WILL BE ON THE INCREASE
LEADING TO AN INCREASING CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE
HIGHER TERRAIN ACROSS EASTERN ARIZONA AND TO THE NORTH AND EAST OF
THE PHOENIX AREA. VOLUME AND COVERAGE OF STORM ACTIVITY ON WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON AND EVENING COULD LEND ITSELF TO STRONG GUSTY OUTFLOW
WINDS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR BLOWING DUST DOWN INTO THE LOWER DESERT
ELEVATIONS OF SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA. A EARLY-SEASON/LOW-GRADE PATTERN
WILL SET-UP FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM
CHANCES INCREASE AREAWIDE BY THE LATE WEEKEND AND EARLY NEXT
WEEK.

I’m just glad I got my Tiki bar roof completed in time. Now it will be interesting to see how it holds up when that first haboob of the year comes rolling in.