Monsoon's Last Hurrah!

[imp]

8 Sep 2015, all morning, clouds gathering over the mountains ringing Colorado River Valley, we went for groceries, I told my wife, finally, today's the day! Just took this pic off our patio, sun shining brightly, looking west:


Rain is pouring down perhaps 30 miles distant, over in California, maybe several miles in width, this is typical of precip. here, unlike temperate areas where huge areas are "socked-in" with cloud cover. My first sighting of this about 40 years ago, travelling on vacation, mountains perhaps 50 miles distant, one large cloud hanging over them, driving across seemingly endless flat desert toward that spectacle, I was dumbfounded! Bolts of lightning in that gray sheet! Never in my 30-born years had I seen something so unusual, regarding weather conditions.

I present it for those here who may never have ventured to the Desert before, or simply missed this type of rare (maybe 10-15 times a year) atmospheric scene. imp

 

[AZ Jim]

We usually get hit lightly here compared to my time in Lake Havasu City. There in a monsoon rain the street would run like a river. For those who never saw it in the desert it is spectacular and something the newcomer can't imagine.

 

[imp]

We usually get hit lightly here compared to my time in Lake Havasu City. There in a monsoon rain the street would run like a river. For those who never saw it in the desert it is spectacular and something the newcomer can't imagine.

Jim is located more centrally in the state, a much-larger valley than ours, that area being in general, spared of the year-round Santa Ana winds we experience. To be sure, he knows full-well of the summertime dust storms, rarer here. This particular rainy season, his area, Phoenix, has been most generously hit with heavy rain, street flooding, and dust storms. We have not, regrettably, as the desert plants desperately need precipitation, but continue to cling to life.

The three months following September are typically pretty devoid of rain. The winter rains come in from the Pacific, mainly, opposed to summer, where hurricane activity in the Gulf of Mexico extends the monsoon "reach" clear up into Canada, producing what the local Native Americans termed "male" storms; winter rains are much more subdued, nice, quiet showers spread over larger land areas, those of course were "female" rains! imp

 

[Lara]

Great photo imp! I like the contrast of textures

 

[imp]

Great photo imp! I like the contrast of textures

Thank you, Lara! FWIW, it fizzled again, surrounding areas got rain, not a drop here. However, several "cells" are still moving about; my wife keeps up to date with current radar views, which we've found are quite accurate. imp

 

[Ken N Tx]

Today we got our first rain in 60 days....2 hour soaker..Much needed...
.