It's Monsoon Time in Arizona!
Posted: Monday, August 23, 2010
by Dianne Lehmann
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Some people refer to the Monsoon as Monsoon Season, but the word "season" is unnecessary. The basic definition of Monsoon is "a seasonal shift in the prevailing winds" or something like that.
For most of the year, Arizona gets her weather as a hand-me-down from California . I don't dare say anything bad about that because I am, myself, a California hand-me-down. But shhhh. Don't tell my neighbors. I learned right quick when we first moved here to say the name of the main city in these parts just as all the born-heres did. That would be Prescott like weskit (refers to a "W" shaped hem on a blouse, vest, or jacket) and not Prescott like mascot. Dead giveaway that.
Even without the chaos of Monsoon, our weather is changeable and sometimes unpredictable. It has to do with the fact that most of north Central Arizona where I live is quite high in elevation: five thousand feet where I live and a little higher where the horses I work with twice a week live.
Even at this elevation, summer can be quite hot. And with the Monsoon, a fair amount of humidity is added to the heat. It's not nearly so humid as the eastern parts of the country. But still, when you are not accustomed to it, it can be very oppressive.
Recently, on a visit to the horses, it was so hot and humid with thunder clouds building in the sky, that after grooming several horses and mucking out the stalls and doing some riding as well, I was just about ready to pass out from the heat. Around 2:00 p.m., I was feeling a bit dizzy and went up to the garage to get some cold water from the cooler. All the water I had with me down at the barn had become very warm and offered me little relief.
I continued my work and the clouds piled up thicker and thicker and started to develop distinctly dark bellies. Then around about 3:00 p.m., it came. It started with thunder from the south. The roof of the "barn" is corrugated steel (actually, the structure is completely open to the elements on all its sides) and the first fat raindrops started to hit it with loud and intermittent tocks.
As is usually the case with an Arizona Monsoon thunderstorm, it soon became a rapid fire of rain. Insistent and noisy beyond belief under that metal roof. The thunder and lightning were coming right on top of each other and sounded like it was directly over our heads. The horses had already congregated under the roof in the various stalls (open at the back to the pasture to be used as run-ins in case of inclement weather) because they are always hopeful that along with the grooming I give them, some hay will be forthcoming. It usually is.
I haven't mentioned the wind. As is implied by the word "monsoon," there is always wind. Actually, the number of "still" days where I live can probably be counted on one hand. But a Monsoon thunderstorm wind can be something else entirely. This one came whipping out of the southwest and drove the rain completely sideways. I scrambled around weighting down some of the loose tarps over the bales of hay and bags of hay cubes and in a matter of moments was completely soaked. That along with the wind took me from near heat prostration to near freezing in just minutes.
Then the hail started. I first heard it as a hard, rocky impact on the roof interspersed with the almost deafening drumming of the rain. The noise of the rain itself already had the horses on edge. When the marble sized hail started coming down in force, the noise became almost unbearable and the horses all ran out into it. But the hail hitting them forced them back in again. Not without much confused running about first. Especially from the big bay mare. She finally pushed her way in between the black gelding and the smaller paint mare who were sharing a stall. Three horses in one stall is about two too many.
By the time the hail started coming down, I was not just near to freezing. I was frozen. The rain was still blowing in and there was no way to get away from it. The horses stood stoically and I crouched down into a little ball to try to conserve what little heat I had left in my body.
When it let up a little, I made a mad dash (not too mad because the ground was a muddy soup and I didn't want to fall down in it) for the tack house. It was warmer inside but also a little crowded. I had discovered where all the biting flies had gotten to and boy were they glad to see me.
By that time, it was almost a half an hour since it had all begun and it showed no signs of letting up. This wasn't going to be the usual ten-minute wonder like many of the thundershowers. This one was serious and the flies were starting to be a problem. Have you ever been bitten by a horse fly? It hurts. A lot. I don't know how the horses tolerate it. Well, they don't actually. They spend most of the daylight hours twitching patches of skin and stomping their feet in a restless kind of dance. They like the smaller paint mare more than the others. I will sometimes spend a few minutes shooing the flies from her legs and nose and everywhere else, just to give her a couple moments of peace. Sometimes when I tire, she will turn and look plaintively at me or nudge my hand with her nose. Poor thing.
When I decided that this one wasn't going to be short lived, I packed it in and headed for my car. On the way to it I remembered that I had left all the windows slightly open so the heat wouldn't build up too badly inside. Yup, it was wet inside. The windows were all steamy and the rain had made it to every part of the interior driven by the swirling winds. I'll have to add a towel to the water, blanket, pillow, Monsoon shoes (so I don't ruin the ones that I am wearing) and tools that I normally keep in my Jeep.
As I drove southward home, I left the storm behind me. The saying goes, Arizona is the only place that it can be raining in your front yard and not in your backyard, and it's just about true. By the time I arrived at my house, the rain and hail were a distant memory. Just dark clouds to the north and the ground was bone dry and the air was desert hot. Even though it was fairly hot in the house (we keep the air conditioner set quite high to conserve energy and save money), I took a long hot shower. It had been a long time since that felt so good.
I won't say that this is typical of summer weather in Arizona , but it's not that far off the mark. You never really know what will happen. You can leave your house for a nice little walk with the sun shining above you and end it in a downpour, soaked to the skin and wondering why it is that you never think to take an umbrella. After all, it is Monsoon.
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More commentsIn South Carolina we call that "fat rain". Gotta love summertime! A fun read as always Dianne.GraceHi Grace.Fat rain ... I like that. It describes it perfectly. Actually, my favorite season is Autumn followed by Spring, Winter and then Summer. I really just don't like all the heat. But I actually do love the seasonal subset of Monsoon. Some evenings the lightning show is way better than anything that is on television.Thanks so much, Grace.Hugs,Dianne
I havent had the pleasure of being in a monsoon. I can imagine that is quite dreadful.Hi James.Mostly it isn't dreadful at all. Except maybe if you are afraid of lightning. There's usually quite a lot of it. And sometimes it comes very close. Pretty exciting actually. And the Monsoon busts up the dreary sameness and heat of the summer. You just have to be prepared for it with the proper selection of clothing.Thanks for reading and commenting.Dianne
You've written this so beautifully and graphically, Dianne. I got so carried away I completely lost track of where I was while I was reading.Hi Jennifer.I felt the same way reading your article the other day about your holiday in your new car. I didn't want it to end. I wanted to hear more.Thanks so much and many hugs,Dianne
I love high desert but I had forgotten about the rainstorms and the wind blowing on a daily basis. You certainly described the weather there perfectly. Hail one minute sunshine the next. For the most part beautiful weather, although I don't think I would want to live as high up as you do.Hi Linda.Another SW author, Marijo, lives even higher than I do. I think she is at about 8,000 feet. I can't imagine that.And you are right, for the most part the weather is beautiful. We get snow in the winter, but not so much that it is a burden. Mostly it's just very picturesque. Although the folks who live a little higher up might not agree with me. :)Thanks for reading and taking time to comment. I always appreciate it.Dianne
Reminded me of Boulder, Colorado which I am still in love with!Hi e.I've heard that Boulder is really pretty and has very nice weather. Bernd and I aren't sure that we will stay the rest of our lives in Arizona (though I do really like it a lot) and Colorado is one of the other states we've considered. But we haven't even visited it yet.Thanks for stopping by!Hugs,Dianne
Being in Texas right now, I can't imagine anything anywhere being anything but horribly hot. Even the rain, when blessed with a little, will scorch your skin. So although I wouldn't relish the freezing part, I certainly enjoyed hearing that the entire earth is not in this same forsaken weather pattern. Nice story.Hi David.I get the impression that weather in the summer in Texas is generally unpleasant. I imagine it could be similar to what they get down in Phoenix. You couldn't pay me to live in Phoenix, but a lot of people do and seem to enjoy it. I don't get it. Something for everybody, I guess.I'm guessing that summer is not your favorite season. :) Not mine either.Thanks so much for reading and commenting!Dianne
My wife is from Mesa, and one of the first things she told me about the Phoenix area was about the monsoon. Of course, I am from Florida and do not find the concept of "water from the sky" quite as daunting and fearful as she does. We met in Central Texas, which I considered a desert and she viewed as a lush tropical paradise.Hi Donovan.Isn't it grand! All our different perspectives. Did your wife also tell you about the dust storms that the Valley of the Sun gets during Monsoon? I haven't experienced one (thank goodness), but I've seen aerial videos of them. It's this giant wall of dust that takes visibility to zero in nothing flat. Ever see the movie "Hidalgo?" There's a dust storm in it that looks just like those that Phoenix gets.I love your sense of humor about "water from the sky." I think a hurricane would scare the cr** out of me!Thanks for reading and commenting!Dianne
Weather that always changes makes life more interesting... well that is how I see it at least. People that are reading this article from San Diego are probably scratching their heads wondering what is wrong with people that live in such areas. Ah well, it is what you make of it. Thanks!Hi B2C.One of the things we enjoy about Arizona, as opposed to Southern California where we came from, is the weather. It always seemed to me that SoCal weather was all the same. I love the variety of it here ... no matter how much I might complain. :)Thanks so much for reading and commenting.Dianne
OK where did you live in CA? I spent most of my adult life in the Stockton and Lodi area - miss those fruit stands too! and have a nephew and his family living in Tucson! Also, our pastors just got back from time in Sedona and said the monsoon made the desert blooming and beautiful! We have clouds but no rain except a couple of spits in several weeks! Enjoy!Hi Marijo.As a kid I lived in Pico Rivera in eastern Los Angeles County. Then we moved to Hacienda Heights in farther eastern LA County. When I married Bernd, we moved to Santa Ana in Orange County. And then after about five years, we moved back to LA County in the Walnut/Diamond Bar area. That was not too far from Pomona. Everywhere we went the weather was about the same. Warm, warmer, a bit hot, warmer, warm. Not much rain. No thunder and lightning to speak of ... unless you were driving across the desert to Las Vegas at the right time of year. Only went there once and it happened to be the right time of year. Woo hoo!Yup, it's plum pretty around here right now. Everything is green, the grasses are fruiting and making very pretty colors. There are sunflowers galore and all kinds of other wild flowers in purples, yellows, creamy whites, reds and oranges. I love this time of year. Oh, our temps have been really moderate that last few days, but the winds have been brutal. Can't have everything.Thanks for reading!Hugs,Dianne
Nice touch of humor. The horses would have probably enjoyed the rain but hail - no way! Somehow I cannot picture Arizona as having "monsoons" - or even very changeable weather like that. I know that it is hot, hot, hot in southern AZ; I hear that you can ski northerly of Flagstaff. When the kids went to Arizona/Grand Canyon etc last year in July, they had exquisite weather but HOT. When I visited as a tourist, it had just rained and the Grand Canyon was at it's most incredible color hues. Hearing about the rains, hail and all, is interesting and not exactly as I had pictured it in my mind. Good to know that there is rainfall and it's not just the Colorado river that brings life sustaining water.We have a saying in Connecticut. "Wait 30 minutes and the weather will change." I've experienced radical changes in weather here. Like - it rains on one side of the street and might be dry on the other. Or, it could turn blustery from a reasonably nice day only to snow like a you know what.Hi Heidi.Actually, the one paint mare stood out in the rain and so did the Percheron Stallion. But he had no choice. He doesn't even have a run-in stall. He'll be getting a cover later this month. Mostly, they didn't want to be out in the rain because the wind was driving it so hard it was almost painful.One of the reasons Bernd and I live here is the altitude. At about 5,000 feet, it doesn't get crazy hot. And parts of the Grand Canyon, even though it is much further north than where we live, get much hotter because the altitude is lower. Another great place in AZ to visit right after it rains is Sedona with all its red rock formations. The reds just pop and the greens of the junipers are darker and the whole thing is just beautiful. Sedona with snow is also a real treat. I could go on about AZ ... but I won't. :)Thanks for reading and commenting.Hugs,Dianne
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