Monsoons

If you're not from Arizona, you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you about how it rains here. You think, "It's the desert. It doesn't really rain, right? Maybe an occasional storm, but never anything significant."

And most the year, you would be right. However, from roughly Fourth of July to Labor Day, you would be very, very wrong.

Summer in Arizona is a fickle thing. It starts with living in an oven for the months of May and June. The temperature is ridiculous, but the air is so incredibly dry. In the sun, it's agony, but the second you step in the shade, it's almost tolerable.

Just when you're about to lose your mind from the constant heat, the storm clouds roll in. The temperature finally drops to the 90's and the humidity skyrockets. The side effect? Almost every afternoon, nearly 4 o'clock on the dot, the storm clouds roll over town.

For anywhere between five minutes to half an hour, the skies will open and it will pour. I've posted about it before, but you have to time doing anything outside around it. Especially the long dash from my building to my car.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the storms this week. Of course, the first one is from when I was leaving work. It may look like a little dust and dirt, but the lot where the dirt was being stirred up was probably half a mile away, at least. I really thought I was going to see my first tornado. And that I was driving straight for it.

One of the benefits, though? Gorgeous sunsets.

The other amazing benefit? The smell of the desert after a rain. It's almost impossible to describe. Inhaling it should be on everyone's bucket list. The clean air, the moist earth, and the fresh tang of the creosote. If I could bottle it, I would be so freakin' rich.