Thunderstorms to mark start of North American monsoon in Southwest

This year’s monsoon will start earlier than average, as AccuWeather’s long-range forecast team indicated it could in the 2022 U.S. summer forecast.

AccuWeather Global Weather Center – June 15, 2022 – A surge of moisture will arrive in the southwestern United States later this week, and the pattern change will be enough to trigger the onset of the North American monsoon, AccuWeather meteorologists say.

A tropical breeze will help initiate the annual event for the Southwest that helps produce an increase in showers and thunderstorms. The change in wind direction from dry west to northwest winds to a moist southerly flow will allow the first spotty showers and thunderstorms to erupt in the pattern starting Thursday and Friday in parts of New Mexico. The storms will then spread westward into part of Arizona and northward to portions of Colorado and Utah over the weekend and into early next week.

This year’s monsoon will start earlier than average, as AccuWeather’s long-range forecast team indicated it could in the 2022 U.S. summer forecast.

The average start date for the North American monsoon in southern New Mexico and Arizona is July 3, according to the National Weather Service. However, the monsoon season is similar to other wet seasons and times of the year.

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