8/28/2008
THURSDAY'S TEMPERMENTAL MONSOON WEATHERSTORM WAS ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS BY ANY STANDARD HERE IN THE VALLEY OF THE SUN....
AT LEAST SINCE MY TIME HERE...With winds gusting up to 100 mph right here in the Coronado, more that ,1500 lightning strikes recorded in a single hour, and hail pounding the city it was a night to remember.

"The rain marks a continuation of one of the most productive monsoons on record - with nearly 6 inches, this year's already ranks as the 10th wettest on the books - but it would take a meteorological convergence of cosmic proportions to elicit a repeat performance of Thursday night's show", said Keith Kincaid, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
"Not only was it longer, there were several (storms) that went across the same path," Kincaid said. "The aerial coverage was just tremendous. If you look at the loops of the radar, it stretched from Fountain Hills all the way down to Gila Bend."

The arizona republic reported "The most brilliant signs appeared in the southeasterly skies about 8 p.m. with several hundred lightning strikes, but the storm had been brewing hours earlier with winds of up to 50 mph whipping around the moisture 20,000 feet above the mountains in Gila County.
When a trio of storms stacked up in the Mazatzal Mountains, the stage was set. One by one, they marched into the metro area, producing a show of force Valley residents haven't seen for years.
Hundred-year-old trees were uprooted in Phoenix, roofs were stripped throughout the Valley as block walls toppled and dumpsters were tossed around like tin cans;
Some trees ravaged by Thursday's freight train of a storm may be salvageable, desert garden experts say.
The storm uprooted everything from eucalyptus to ocotillo and even split the trunks of trees in half."

HOW CAN YOU TELL IF YOUR TREE CAN BE SAVED
"If the roots aren't out of the ground, then it's probably salvageable. If the roots are out of the ground, I probably wouldn't bother," said Jay Harper of Harper's Nurseries & Landscape Co. in Mesa and Scottsdale.

That is a good rule of thumb for trees, but cactuses and succulents such as ocotillos probably can be replanted with success even if the roots are out of the ground, Harper said.
As for a split trunk, you can try applying a pruning sealer on the damaged area and then wrapping the trunk with cloth tree tape, Harper said. Sometimes, a tree will knit back together, Harper said. If the trunk is big enough, you can even drill a hole and bolt it back together, he said.

Scott McMahon, a certified arborist and curator of cactuses at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, said high winds and intense rain can damage plants weakened by poor pruning or shallow soil.

McMahon said uprooted smaller native trees may be salvageable, but may have to be staked for the rest of their lives.

"If it's not too big, it may be worth replacing it. There is no way to get around older trees. If they go down, that's it," he said.

He said trees are often improperly pruned into what he calls lion-tailing: The inside of the tree is thinned too much. That forces the tree to branch outward, making it heavy on the outside and vulnerable to the elements.

"Desert trees, they like to arch over and grow towards the ground," McMahon said.

If a tree lost a lot of branches or had limbs partly damaged by the storm, keeping the tree will depend on how much damage there is and what the tree will look like once it is pruned, Harper said.

If you have to replace a downed or heavily damaged tree, now is a good time to plant most trees, Harper said.

"We're getting into those shorter days. The higher humidity, wet ground," he said. "And shorter days makes it pretty stress-free for (planting) trees."

E-HOOD
HAS SOME RECOMENDATIONS AFTER THE STORM........

As with any situation where our stress is tested to the limits, there are valuble lessons to be learned. This is true in the case of this storm. Not every day or year will see weather like this but it does us good to review what happened and how we can plan for healthy trees in the future and for that much needed shade and greeen feeling we want tin the desert. This searies of slides is to show the damage, the storm did and the levels of stress to the breaking point so that we can provide a healthy environment and location for out new plantings. the comments on the side of the photos will help you see these points ...........enjoy.....Remember to provide plenty of space for the roots to extend out around the tree, leave low branches on desert trees, and don't plant under power wires .......plant where pruning can be kept at a minimum so as to let the natural shape of the tree evolve as it has in nature....

http://tinyurl.com/monsoon2008