Arizona, Other Sections Of U.S. Reeling From Past Week's Storms. A Harbinger Of A Violent El Nino Winter?

People soak in a pool that was being
threatened by record flooding in
Pagosa Springs, Colorado last week

An early season storm last week prompted Arizona's first tornado warning in 16 years, produced at least three tornadoes, and set off gorilla hailstorms and flooding. 

At least three suspected tornadoes hit Arizona. The worst appears to be in Overgaard, a town of about 3,000 people roughly 140 miles north of Phoenix. 

Roofs of home were torn off and trees crashed through other roofs.  

In Phoenix, there were no tornadoes, but intense thunderstorm winds and large hail caused widespread, severe damage, especially in the northern half of the city. The hail broke countless windows, smashed zillions of car windshields and left vehicles hopelessly dented. Video showed parking lots full of cars destroyed by hail up to the size of baseballs. 

Strong winds also torn apart numerous trees. Phoenix easily suffered many millions of dollars in damage in just one storm. Maybe over $1 billion.  Another Phoenix hailstorm in 2010 caused $2.7 billion in damage. 

In southern California, violent storms also hit. Video captured swirling debris in Victorville, which makes me suspect at least a weak tornado. Other areas in the Los Angeles basin saw hail, flooding downpours and wind damage. 

Severe flooding hit the Four Corners region, the area where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet. The flooding began in earnest Wednesday and continued the rest of the week. 

Intense flooding also hit southwest Colorado.

Per CBS:

"Video shared with CBS Colorado shows a Pagosa Springs house inundated with floodwaters. All that can be seen is a small piece of the roof and the chimney."

 Other houses were inundated or being undermined by water. This is the second damaging flood in Pagosa Springs within a  year.  The San Juan river crested ago 15.02 feet Friday, compared to 12.8 feet during last year's flood. 

Hurricane, Utah had its second severe flood since August. One family had just moved back into their house three weeks ago after it was damaged by flooding, only to have it inundated again 

The area is known as a resort with popular hot springs. Almost all the hotels and tourists attractions are on higher ground and suffered little damage.

EL NINO INFLUENCE

It's beginning to look like a wild El Nino all and winter is already have an effect. It's unclear whether the violent weather is related to El Nino, but it is consistent with the pattern that's widely expected this winter. 

As NPR reports: 

"Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, says the severe thunderstorms are ruled by the large amount of moisture in the air. He says the moisture comes from the record-warm waters off parts of the West Coast, which are drive by an ongoing strong El Nino event and a recent marine heat wave (which he attributes largely to human-caused climate change)."

The West Coast and parts of the Southwest - along with most of the rest of the southern United States - is bracing for a terribly stormy winter, courtesy of the record strong El Nino. 

Already, another strong, wet storm looks like it might slam into the southern California coast, and then spread more heavy air into the Southwest in about a week.