News and weather stations in Phoenix reported a 75-day monsoon and considerably higher levels of rainfall across the state for 2006 in comparison to the average 55-day monsoon with limited rainfall.

In the city of Tucson, about 100 miles southwest of Safford, rainfall during monsoon exceeded 10 inches. This level of rainfall hasn’t occurred since 1983. In Safford, the average rainfall is typically about 4.5 inches during monsoon, but storms dropped 6.61 inches for the 2006 season in Safford.

Monsoon begins when the dew point reaches 54 degrees Fahrenheit or higher and lasts for three days. As soon as this pattern occurs, the first three days is the beginning of the monsoon. Last year, the monsoon started on July 18. This year, however, monsoon began almost a month earlier, on June 28 in Safford. “We do not make a note of the end of the monsoon, which usually breaks down on Sept. 15,” Hans Hansen of the National Weather Service in Tucson said.

Hansen also said this is one of the things the Tucson office of the National Weather Service does a little differently than the Phoenix office. The staff in Phoenix monitors the end of the monsoon, which reported a stretch in the monsoon to Sept. 30.

Three places in the Gila Valley electronically collect data at several points for rainfall throughout the year. The Safford Regional Airport, the Safford Agricultural Center (U of A) and the three sensors upon Mount Graham measure rainfall for the National Weather Service or the National Forest Service.

“There are electronic rainfall sensors at Columbine, Noon Creek and Muleshoe,” Steve Wallace, assistant fire manager of the Safford Ranger District, said.

Wallace said a large monsoon storm in August blew out newly installed calverts in Noon Creek because of massive amounts of water from rainfall.

In the month of July, the mountain received more than 7.5 inches of rain at Columbine and was followed by more than 6 inches of rain in August. From the end of June to mid-September, the rainfall was reportedly at 16.65 inches on the mountain.

“Some parts of the state, such as the Coronado National Monument, re-ceived more than 21 inches of rain,” Hanson said.

As rainfall and other unusual weather is still occurring well into October, data are being collected and observed by the NWS. At the Safford Agriculture Center in the east part of the Gila Valley, the month of September hit a record with low temperatures.

“We had a very cool September with an average mean of 70 degrees with the low temperatures, and that broke a record from data recorded since 1948,” Jonie Burge, an administrative assistant of SAC, said.

Burge said these low temperatures were very interesting because September is usually ten degrees warmer than this year’s average high of 84 degrees.