INLAND EMPIRE – (INT) – Weather watchers are wondering if the summer monsoon season has gone AWOL.

Half-way through the season and not a single monsoon storm has appeared.

It’s the second consecutive summer with few, if any, summer storms that frequently target the mountains and deserts with rain, wind and lightning. In fact, June 26th was the last time lightning was seen in the Big Bear area.

The positioning of high and low pressure centers is critical in pulling moist sub-tropical air into Southern California from Northern Mexico.

Upper air flows have favored repeated low pressure troughs along the West Coast while high pressure centers usually over the Four Corners have remained too far to the east. The result has been shorter, drier heat waves off-set by cooling marine air pushing farther inland. A similar situation occurred in 2006.

The National Weather Service is not predicting any significant changes.

Story Date: August 13, 2020