In 2010 we experience our first Sonoran Desert monsoon season. There was lots of rain, wind and lightning. This year’s monsoon season has been a nonsoon! So far we have had only 2 inches of rain. This weekend’s forecast was for heavy rains and flash flooding — somebody stole our rain!
So, for this monsoon season the best I can do is revisit an August 31, 2010 posting. — kenne
Catalina Foothills, Tucson, Arizona — image by kenne
During this summer’s rainy season, many storms have provided much-needed rain to southern Arizona. However, when it comes to rainfall, not all areas are treated equally. We had received little rain till the other evening, so when the rain began, it was a time to rejoice. So much is special about the desert. I wrote a poem and produced a video. You can read the poem below and/or in the video.
Desert’s Rainy Season
Desert’s rainy season is A product of summer highs Mixed with atmosphere lows Bringing a refreshing brief break To her blue-skied summer heat
Desert’s wide-open spaces Provide panoramic views Showcasing threatening clouds Only too often breakup Before reaching your sky
Welcoming rains come Only at Desert’s well Playing havoc with forecasters Never seeming to learn She does not keep time
Wind shaking the trees, Olive, palo verde and mesquite Shadowed by rains wetness Shining with each lightning flash While drinking of life’s fountain
Olives falling from twisted branches Rolled by wind over wet flagstones Pounding rain leaving behind puddles As rainwater exits through openings In old pueblo walls
Wind chimes dance wildly Ringing out in nervous joy Desert’s unlocked sounds Composing a melodic refrain Proclaiming Desert’s delight
Usually, this time of year, when the temperatures are over 100 degrees, we start getting some monsoon rains.
So, yesterday when the dark clouds began moving in we would get some rain, and we did.
But only after some strong winds, reminding us much of a coming hurricane on the gulf coast.
Usually, wind gust in the desert doesn’t blow off the green olives on our patio tree,
but they did yesterday.
As the front moved through, we started to get some rain.
We received about one-quarter inch, the first rain in two months.
The monsoon rains bring new life to the Sonoran Desert. This past week has experienced some very good rain fall, especially in the mountains. The start of the monsoon season brings out the Sonoran toads, but they breed in water, and even with the recent rains we have had several months of no rain and Sabino Creek remains dry. The above photo was taken this morning, but based on sighting a few miles up the creek, there maybe water flowing over the dam by night fall.
Down from the dam, there are few pools of water that Jeanne, Dan and I explored this morning and found some toads. The mating season will last only a few days, so with more rain expected today and tomorrow, and with water coming down the creek, the toads will probably be very active the next couple of days.
Monsoon Rain at Sunset in Tanuri Ridge — Image by kenne
. . . I would stand, If the night blackened with a coming storm, Beneath some rock, listening to notes that are The ghostly language of the ancient earth, Or make their dim abode in distant winds. Thence did I drink the visionary power; And deem not profitless those fleeting moods Of shadowy exultation: not for this, That they are kindred to our purer mind And intellectual life; but that the soul, Remembering how she felt, but what she felt Remembering not, retains an obscure sense Of possible sublimity. . . .
Sabino Canyon Panorama after Monsoon Rains, #2 (August 9, 2016) Image by kenne
They cannot scare me with their empty spaces Between stars – on stars where no human race is. I have it in me so much nearer home To scare myself with my own desert places.
As the front moved through, we started to get some rain.
We received about one-quarter inch, the first rain in two months.
Images by kenne
Sunrise at Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Dam — Image by kenne
We Haven’t Seen Clouds Like These For Some Time — Image by kenne
Monsoon Lightning Over the Catalinas — Image by kenne
“Star Power” Silverpuff Blossom In the Santa Catalina Mountains — Image by kenne
The monsoon rains bring new life to the Sonoran Desert. This past week has experienced some very good rain fall, especially in the mountains. The start of the monsoon season brings out the Sonoran toads, but they breed in water, and even with the recent rains we have had several months of no rain and Sabino Creek remains dry. The above photo was taken this morning, but based on sighting a few miles up the creek, there maybe water flowing over the dam by night fall.
Down from the dam, there are few pools of water that Jeanne, Dan and I explored this morning and found some toads. The mating season will last only a few days, so with more rain expected today and tomorrow, and with water coming down the creek, the toads will probably be very active the next couple of days.
Monsoon Rain at Sunset in Tanuri Ridge — Image by kenne
Sabino Canyon Panorama after Monsoon Rains, #2 (August 9, 2016) Image by kenne
Sabino Canyon Panorama after Monsoon Rains, #1 (August 9, 2016) — Image by kenne
Late Afternoon Storms Over the Santa Catalina Mountains (June 26, 2016) — Image by kenne
Monsoon Rains Move the Desert — Image by kenne
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