Spooky season, giant pumpkins and goodbye monsoon

The monsoon officially wrapped up on September 30. Since 2008, the National Weather Service has used fixed dates for the season, June 15 through September 30, the same way hurricane season has set dates. Before that, the start was declared only after three straight days of dew points at 55 degrees or higher (NBC News).

This year was a soggy one for much of the county. Early numbers from the Flood Control District of Maricopa County put the countywide average around 4 inches, roughly 130 percent of normal, with September doing a lot of the work. The Loop 303 corridor, including our home base of Surprise and nearby Sun City, missed the heaviest downpours (AZFamily). The district says those totals are still preliminary.

Now comes the part of the year Arizona earns. October is when the Valley usually starts to ease off the heat, the dust storms settle down and working on a rooftop stops feeling like working on a griddle. It's also spooky season, so this issue has a few creepy crane words, some giant pumpkins and a Halloween quiz at the bottom.

The lifting trade has some names that sound like they belong in a haunted house. Every one of these is the real deal.

Birdcaging

When wire rope gets abused, its strands can spread apart and puff out like an old birdcage. OSHA's crane rule lists birdcaging with kinking, crushing and unstranding as significant distortion of the rope's structure. It's a Category I deficiency, which means the competent person has to decide right away whether it's a safety hazard (OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1413).

The deadman

In the building trades, a deadman is a log, concrete block or similar heavy object buried in the ground as an anchor. The word has other spooky cousins too. A dead-man control is a safety switch that stops a machine when the operator lets go of the pedal or throttle (Dictionary.com).

Tower cranes that turn on their own

Drive past a downtown job site on a windy night and you might see a tower crane slowly turning with nobody in the cab. That's on purpose. Unattended tower cranes are put in free slew, with the slew brake released and the jib set at its out-of-service radius, so they can weathervane with the wind instead of fighting it (Hard Hat Training). Not a ghost, just good engineering.

Want more? Our crane fun facts page has dozens more, from Roman treadwheel cranes to the headache ball.

NIOSH puts out a boom truck safety toolbox talk

In August, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health published a two-page Boom Truck Safety toolbox talk, NIOSH Publication No. 2026-108 (CDC/NIOSH). The talk covers using the load chart, verifying load weights, setting outriggers on solid blocking, keeping clear communication between the operator and the signal person, checking wind and keeping people out from under the load. It includes a real case where a boom buckled after a crew lifted steel beams heavier than the crane's capacity. Nobody was hurt, but it shows why guessing at a weight is a bad idea. It's free and worth five minutes at your next crew meeting.

Crane and rigging pros head to Omaha

The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association scheduled its 2026 Crane & Rigging Workshop for September 22 to 24 in Omaha, Nebraska. The program listed 11 educational sessions, 20 speakers and a sold-out exhibit hall of 96 booths, with topics like lift plans, load handling, rigging safety, regulatory changes and accident reconstruction (AJOT). Crane Hot Line's preview noted sessions on lift director duties under ASME B30.5 and lift planning under ASME P30.1 (Crane Hot Line).

Giant pumpkins are no joke. The Guinness World Records title for heaviest pumpkin stood at 2,819 pounds 4 ounces heading into October, grown by UK twin brothers Ian and Stuart Paton (Guinness World Records). October is weigh-off season, so keep an eye on that number. You don't carry something that size to the scale. At one weigh-off, each pumpkin was lifted with a skid steer and a homemade harness (Rice Lake Weighing Systems).

Then there's the fun part. At the 2025 Wyoming State Championship Weigh-Off and Pumpkin Drop in Worland, a crane hoisted a squash of about 1,700 pounds up to 200 feet and let it go onto a porta-potty. The crew had planned to go higher, but wind brought the drop height down (Cowboy State Daily).

We don't drop anything on purpose. Our version of spooky season is the monster rooftop unit: a package unit, condenser or heat pump that's too big for the ladder and too heavy to muscle up by hand. As we said on Facebook, don't let a monster HVAC unit give you nightmares this spooky season. Cranes also help with big holiday decorations, event props and other awkward loads where there's room to set up safely. If it can't go through the door, over the roof it goes. See our HVAC crane lifts and heavy item lifts pages for more.

Cooler weather is easier on everyone working on a roof for fall replacements. A smooth crane day starts with a good phone call. Here's what helps Don confirm a lift:

• The weight. Grab it from the spec sheet or nameplate for the new unit, and don't forget the old one coming down.
• How far it has to go. Where the unit sits on the roof compared to where the truck can park.
• Where the truck can park. Driveway, alley, parking lot or street, and whether the ground is firm. After a wet monsoon, soft dirt and washed-out shoulders are worth a second look.
• What's overhead. Power lines, trees and roof overhangs near the setup spot.
• Permits and HOA rules. Some cities require a right-of-way or street-use permit to set up in the street, so check with your city, and with the HOA if there is one.

Every lift is different, and Don confirms each one before it's booked. Contractors can read more on our page for HVAC contractors, and homeowners can see how a crane lift works. Got a monster on the schedule? Call 602-615-0712 to schedule or text 623-258-8361.