Dichroic Reflections

rain

Last night we had real rain, not just a few drops on a windshield - according to this morning's news it was .35" where I live, up to 1.93 in some parts of Phoenix. (For contrast, my mother tells me Philadelphia got 6" of rain in one of their bad recent storms, and parts of New Jersey got up to 13". ) It was an intense monsoon storm, though, complete with winds that have left bits of tree all over, some hail, an opaque dust storm before the rain, and lightning and thunder that sounded like cannons outside our bedroom window. The lightning was right there, with no gap between it and the thunder, making it one of those times when I wasn't too happy that our bed is right under the window.

If we get a lot of these monsoon rains it will be some help, along with the long-lasting drizzles we got back in February. What we really need here, though, are winter snowstorms in the high country where our water supply comes from, to let the snow melt and soak in. These quick storms just cause damage and evaporate. Also, it's a bad fire season, so the lightning is a real hazard; fortunately last night it came with enough rain to (probably) prevent it starting any new fires.

To answer LA's question in the last entry, the Sonoran is fairly lush as deserts go. We only get 12" or so of rain a year but that's more than a lot of deserts, and we get it mostly in the form of winter rains and summer monsoons. In good years we have incredible displays of spring flowers. The high country gets a bit more rain and snow, which fill up the reservoirs like Roosevelt Lake and Lake Powell, which are way below where they should be after these nine years of drought. It's especially hard on the cattle industry when there are drought years - thoughout the west, not just here. At least, though we haven't had enough rain to end the drought, we have seen some this year, which makes us better off than parts of Australia.