LAUREN GILGER: Sam, are you excited about your first Arizona monsoon season?
SAM DINGMAN: Yes. One of the many meteorological curiosities I've been getting used to since I moved here. I know, the season officially started on June 15, but I have not seen much rain yet.
GILGER: We got our first taste of the monsoon on Monday, when Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport got a whopping 0.01 inches of rain.
DINGMAN: Deluge! That does not seem like a lot of rain.
GILGER: To be fair, some spots around the Valley, including at my house, we saw a little more rain than the airport. Overall, though, we’ve been hearing it’s going to be a pretty dry monsoon season in Phoenix. But if you have a more specific prediction, there is a competition for you.
DINGMAN: Tell me more.
GILGER: OK, so for the past few years, the University of Arizona's Arizona Institute for Resilience has hosted an online fantasy monsoon game. Players compete against each other by guessing how many inches of rain will fall each month in five major Southwest cities. We’ve got Tucson, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Albuquerque, and El Paso.
DINGMAN: I am so into this.
GILGER: Me too. The last day, though, to submit your July Fantasy Monsoon forecast is this Sunday, and the competition will continue all the way through September.
DINGMAN: I literally want to sign up right now. Where do I go?
GILGER: Head to monsoonfantasy.arizona.edu and pray for rain.
