# Now where should we locate that new Monsoon Study Center... Hmmmm... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 20, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331 "2004-06-20T19:28:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/1 "2004-06-20T19:28:42Z")
[Why Arizona naturally!](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MONSOON_STUDY?SITE=NNCO&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT) > [@](#): > > TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – Tucson will be the eye of the storm this summer, serving as a forecast operations center for an ongoing study of monsoons. > > The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Mexican weather service have teamed to form the North American Monsoon Experiment. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/2 "2004-06-20T19:53:38Z")
Given that the interior US Southwest is the only part of the mainland US to have monsoon seasons, where else do you expect it to be? Sheesh. (The US Southeast has a tad of the effect, but no enough that most people would ever notice. With global warming, it might become a significant effect though.) ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/3 "2004-06-20T20:37:38Z")
Here I am, minding my own business, trying to forgot that **It’s Coming** - those weeks of blinding flash-flooding violent thunderstorms, picturing myself on the local news, being rescued, being alluded to as a “stupid motorist”, who got washed away because I misjudged a dip in the road; gripping white-knuckled terror as I navigate my way from work to day care to home in rush hour traffic in water a foot deep… :eek: Thanks. Thanks alot. ---
**Author:** ![IrreverentTone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@IrreverentTone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IrreverentTone)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/4 "2004-06-20T20:44:28Z")
::sings:: Three more weeks (give or take) 'til thunderstorms, three more weeks 'til thunderstorms. Can you tell I can’t wait for the monsoons? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/5 "2004-06-20T20:47:49Z")
The family and I got caught in a monsoon outside Sedona, Arizona while riding horses. Wow, that was impressive! Dry creekbeds were suddenly raging rivers, and there’s just no way to stay dry! **astro** , do you feel that a monsoon study center should be in a place where there are no monsoons, so better to avoid the possible irony of it being swept away by one? ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/6 "2004-06-20T20:51:07Z")
I bet you don’t have to drive in them. It’s hell on me, I can’t stand it. If I’m home for the duration, though, I love love love it. The sun shines and the heat builds up for most of the day, the humidity rises, everything seems to be holding it’s breath, waiting for the storm. It’s kind of like a long, slow, tortuous foreplay… just when you’re on the verge of orgasm and everything seems painfully quiet and drawn out… BANG! CRASH! BOOM! And the rain falls. It falls on the parched cracked earth, the dusty dried up desert plants, runs through the roads and ranches and open spaces, fills up the washes with life-giving water. And the smell of creosote permeates everything. Aaaaah, yes, hooray for the monsoons when I’m at home. ---
**Author:** ![IrreverentTone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@IrreverentTone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IrreverentTone)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/7 "2004-06-20T21:14:58Z")
You’re right, **trublmakr** , I rarely have to drive in them. I do sympathize with anyone who does. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/8 "2004-06-20T22:05:51Z")
I suspect that **astro,** like me, would’ve bet a lot of money that there were no monsoons anywhere near Arizona. I assumed that the first couple of reponses to the O.P. were jokes, but now I’m thinking you people are serious. Monsoons in Arizona? My mind boggles. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/9 "2004-06-20T22:07:34Z")
Oh yes, they do exist. From around July Fourth to around Labor Day, almost every day, round about 4 o’clock or so, the dark clouds start rolling in and… well, see my above post for what happens. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/10 "2004-06-20T22:23:28Z")
When I lived in Southeast Asia I learned that Monsoon referred to the winds or the season. It had nothing to do with the rains that can accompany the winds. So Arizona might be as good a place as any. And I don’t know if that definition holds for North America. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/11 "2004-06-20T22:56:15Z")
[Arizona Monsoon](http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/Flagstaff/science/monsoon.htm), courtesy of the National Weather Service ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/12 "2004-06-21T01:34:20Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > [Arizona Monsoon](http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/Flagstaff/science/monsoon.htm), courtesy of the National Weather Service [Gorilla Monsoon!](http://www.canoe.ca/WrestlingImagesOld/monsoon_gorilla_sm.jpg) Nyaaahh! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/13 "2004-06-21T02:19:27Z")
Monsoon??? WTF, what I’m reading sounds like a flash flood. Try Thailand, or Burma. where it buckets for months straight and not just for a couple of afternoons. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/14 "2004-06-21T02:25:13Z")
[Here you go, **Astro**.](http://www.recipecottage.com/variety-meats/crow-pie.html) Tris ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-where-should-we-locate-that-new-monsoon-study-center-hmmmm/251331/15 "2004-06-21T02:28:18Z")
> [@China Guy](#): > > Monsoon??? WTF, what I’m reading sounds like a flash flood. > > Try Thailand, or Burma. where it buckets for months straight and not just for a couple of afternoons. **China Guy** , did you read the link, where a monsoon is defined climatologically?