August 25th

Monsoon is here in Tucson. As the high summer temperatures build during the afternoon, you can watch the huge white puffy clouds rise up vertically in the sky over the Rincon Mountains to the east, and you know it is coming. That's the definition of Monsoon: a reverse in wind direction. Typically we get weather from the west, but in Monsoon it comes from the southeast (the gulf of Mexico). If it makes it over the mountains, it arrives with a jolt of energy: lightening, thunder, severe down pours and sometimes hail (like yesterday). The rivers flow and the washes fill up with water. The roads can be impassable. It is fierce, like a New England blizzard snow storm in winter. Yet it thankfully nourishes the dry desert landscape and drops the temperature by at least 20 degrees. The mountains are noticeably greener these days. That's why people here love the Monsoon. I get it.