Monsoon

We are in the midst of our monsoon season. It is a wet monsoon because a shift in our winds brings moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to our region. The pattern of our storms is for them to develop in the late afternoon and to dump heavy rainfall, accompanied by high winds over a relatively short period of time. Our monsoon season lasts from early July into September. We get more than half our annual rainfall during this period.

Our monsoon storms are hit and miss. Some areas of town are hard hit and others, even those nearby, get missed. More rain falls closer to the mountains than down in our valley.

We had the first big storm of the year in our part of town last night. It started at about 7 pm and lasted a couple of hours. I think we got around an inch and a half of rain.

Heavy rainfall here in the desert fill the natural drainage ways quickly. They can create dangerous situations.












In fact, we have a law called the Stupid Motorist Law, that was named for the boneheads who try to drive through the flooded washes.



The owner of this car was caught in the Alamo Wash last evening. I don't know if this car was pulled out or made it this far before dying. I parked my truck, seen in the background, at the bottom of the wash. You can see how deep the water can get at this crossing.




Trees are among the casualties of the high winds. Non-native trees, like this California Pepper tree are more susceptible to wind damage than native plants.

People here plant the California Pepper tree because it tolerates drought and poor soil. The tree does well here, right up to the time that they succumb to the high winds. Then it becomes clear that planting this tree wasn't a great idea.

The tree has two big problems. First, its roots are shallow, because it has adapted to catch water quickly. Secondly, it doesn't drop its leaves in drought conditions. Instead its branches hollow out to minimize the need for water. Both adaptations contribute to the plant falling victim to the wind.

You can see the shallow roots in the picture. This tree snapped off at ground level.

The forecast was for more rain this afternoon, but it didn't materialize, at least in our neighborhood.






Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky


Tag: Daily Life
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