Our (Blessed) Monsoon

Thanks to this year's El Nino we are having one of the wettest summers in a long time. We have been struggling through a multi-year drought so this is welcome news. We will probably need several wet summers to make up for the deficit.  This wet period is usually how we spend our summer...the monsoon season. We usually equate the monsoons with the tropics, like in India or Malaysia, not the desert regions. Our geographic position allows moist air to sweep in from the Pacific Ocean over Baja California and across Arizona or up through Mexico. Much of Arizona is relatively low and hot so a lot of moisture makes it to the higher elevated and cooler parts of New Mexico. Our annual rainfall is often in single digits...Albuquerque's average is 9.45 inches a year. Last month, July 2014, had 4.04 inches of rain while our average for July is 1.5 inches. Sad to say that all this rain is doing nothing for California where the drought rages on.

Life in the desert depends on the monsoons. The multi-year droughts back in the 14th century spelled the end to the large pueblo ancestor settlements and made it nearly impossible to farm the small family plots. Once the rains start -- when they do come -- they usually continue for several weeks.

The storms bring quite a show in the sky. The lightning is quite spectacular but difficult to photograph. I keep trying but so far I have nothing to show. On the other hand,  the clouds in the sunlight just before sunset are amazing. The interplay between the clouds and the craggy mountain tops is also very interesting. Shreds of clouds linger in the hollows after a storm. Last night there was a full rainbow at sunset...too large for me to capture but very pretty.

Here are a few images from the recent rains.

Sunset Cloud Tops

 

 

 

 

Mountain Storm Clouds

I'll add some lightning and rainbow pictures if I get any. Tonight's sunset was very ominous looking...a black and orange sky. One of those times I needed my camera and didn't have it.

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