I feel like I'm turning into a mushroom. It rained to beat the band earlier today; the air is soggy. Summer rains, yes. But what it's like right now, ugh! And there's no way to get a decent measure of how much water fell out of the sky unless you operate your own weather station.
The official measure is, of course, taken at the airport. Our airport enjoys a different, drier climate than the city, so I can't find out anything from that source, which said something like 1+ inches for July the last time I looked a day or so ago.
In contrast, our local paper, the Courier, said that we had received 4+ inches for the "season", presumably the current monsoon; they're likely to add another inch from today's downpour. I've no idea what part of town they get their numbers from.
In any event, Arizona is presently enjoying a respite from the recent heat and, more important, the drought. Even Phoenix. Top temps in the Valley of Death have been under 100 for a couple of days!
My world looks entirely different from two weeks ago. Example: all these mushrooms you see here. I haven't seen fungi like this in years.
But more important, there is a sudden greening everywhere you turn, even in the roadside gravels.
I'm quite sure that the forests are just as soaked and our worries about wildfire can be postponed for several months.
Here in town, wild morning glories are coming up all over the place; this despite the fact that they are thoroughly illegal. I took a chance and scattered poppy and other wildflower seed this evening. Hope that I haven't jinxed the rest of our rainy season!Perhaps I should apologize to my readers from other parts of the world for carrying on about our current weather bonanza. But if you visit almost any other Southwestern blogger, believe me, you're in for a weather report.
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10 comments:
Germans love to go out for mushrooms. I see them everywhere, but wouldn't know a good one from bad.
We too are experiancing percipitation, in fact, we may even reach the July average this year. Tootsie, the hound doesn't
appreciate the rain, even though it makes the soil more diggable.
We also should see some assorted fungi in the yard shortly, mostly grey-brown toadstooly thingos that look lethal, fortunately hound has a digestive system of iron. Cheers
Hermano
Seems par for the course this year - we have had most unseasonable weather this summer in England (5" of rain in a day) which has caused record floods as the rivers send it all down amongst the towns. Some places are going to be without power or drinking water for a fortnight ("Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink"!).
Makes you realise how thin is the surface of our civilisation when nature steps in!
Funnily enough, though we're fairly fed up with unseasonable rain and cold here, it's still lovely to think of a thirstier part of the earth like yours drinking it all up gratefully!
Some lovely smile-provoking pictures on here lately.
I think all we do in Canada is talk about the weather, so you wouldn't be out of place here. My home page on the computer is the weather! Of course, as a cyclist and someone without a car, I am naturally obsessed with the weather.
Does the govt operate those mushroom ID booths like the ones I saw in Norway and Poland? That strikes me as a very sane govt. service.
Bro -- strange to get precips simultaneously in OZ & AZ!
Avus -- I've read & seen pictures of your flooding; the idea of floods in the UK just doesn't mesh with my mental picture!
Lucy -- we are indeed grateful for the both wet and the coolth. We visited a local lake this AM & despite our recent rains, the level is still way down compared to normal.
juliar -- Yes, for those of us that are car-less, the weather is even more of a concern!
And to one and all -- I am amazed at the response to what I thought was a rather humdrum post about our particular weather. Apparently, everybody does talk about it!
I worked on a ranch about 2 hours out of Prescott the last two summers and I definitely remember the buzz the rains create. It makes things so much nicer than here in VA, where it's always humid and doesn't rain as often as it did where I was. Makes it a nice place in the summer, which is a surprise to most people. Of course, they're probably thinking of Phoenix.
Tracy -- a lot of visitors who come to Phx for the winter have very strange ideas about AZ. Fristance, they're likely to go up to the Grand Canyon in shorts & a T in January. The rim of the canyon is at 7000 ft. & likely to have more snow than they were running away from when coming here.
The Govt has health inspectors as we do in the states, but I have never seen them opeating a stand.
Steve -- too bad they don't have those mushroom-checking kiosks. It's a neat idea!
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