Monsoon Weather

It's late summer, and that means in many North American desert areas it's monsoon season. Giant clouds build up over the mountains, get excited, and send down lightning bolts and deafening thunder. Every once in awhile the clouds even release some moisture and we get some rain.

Monsoon weather is found across the globe. We generally have monsoons during July and August, when winds blow moisture from Mexico and Arizona up towards our direction. The winds heat up as they cross the hot land, and when enough moisture is present in the air, the combination creates clouds. These clouds build and build, forming large thunderheads. They are really cool to watch, but they also can make mountain hiking dangerous due to the increased lightning activity.

 
Here are some actual rain drops hitting the windshield! Of course the wipers don't work that well on our desert vehicles, because the hot sun makes the rubber on the windshield wiper blades crack and we use them so infrequently that we forget to replace them.

During one recent monsoon rain shower, I went out in the garden to weed. My garden has been terrific at growing weeds but so-so at growing what I planted. The cloud cover and gentle sprinkles made for a perfect temperature to make my garden look more respectable. Meanwhile, Desert Boy and Henry were playing in the sand and then in a muddy puddle. I figured we had better try to clean up Desert Boy, especially because he was wearing a white onesie and now had a very black behind. So we went to clean up any self-respecting person does: we went to the kiddie pool! Here's a 22 second video of Desert Boy cleaning up in the pool, with a little help from Henry.

Following the dip in the kiddie pool, sure enough, Desert Boy was much cleaner.
He was also sporting some extra curves with his bulging diaper. And that's how we end up when we begin discussing monsoon weather!