June: Monsoon Opening Season

A dust storm obliterates the mountains behind our home.

For the past few weeks, wind has dominated our weather.  It joined forces with torrid temperatures (low 100's), desiccating everything exposed to the elements.  Red Flag warnings abound, trumpeting perfect wildfire conditions.  The parched soil takes wing as the gusts blow through, and our horizons cloud with light brown dust.  Dust storms take organize without much notice, soon reducing visibility to zero like a heavy fog might do back in Maine.

Now June is just around the corner.  While May has been unseasonably hot and seasonably dry, June will beckon even more searing temperatures.   June is the hottest month in the Sonoran Desert, but it also ushers in hope for relief since the monsoon season typically starts about mid-month. 

We love the monsoon season.  Thunderstorms bring needed rain and dazzling lightning displays.  The rains cool our warm air and rejuvenate the cactus.  Locals begin complaining about humidity that soon disperses, but not without first making desert-dwellers recall sultry summers on the east coast. 

Just after a monsoon storm.

Monsoon rain falls as a deluge, quickly running off hard soil, clogging roads, filling washes, and resurrecting the rivers.  Signs along the highway caution motorists against crossing flooded areas, but there is always someone who just cannot wait.  That someone usually needs to be rescued from fast moving water, the force of which is gravely underestimated.  Arizona has what it calls "the stupid motorist law," which mandates a stiff fine for drivers who forge through flood zones and require rescue.  We try to be home by 4:00 p.m. so that we aren't caught on the road waiting several hours until the raging waters recede.  We know neighbors who have spent the night in a WalMart parking lot because the roads home were impassable.

Chain fruit cholla with blooms.

The tiny blooms of chain-fruit chollas reach their peak in June.  These flowers are warm pink and aren't that attractive, but they bring dots of color to an otherwise monochromatic landscape.  That landscape will reacquire a nice green cape, though, once the monsoon rains begin.