Unlike some areas where it can rain all day and all night for days, in most of Arizona rain is highly seasonal, localized and comes with huge thunderstorms in torrents. For most of my life the summer thunderstorm season was called a monsoon. Recently, there has been change to conform with political correctness, and it is now officially called the "Summer Thunderstorm Season." Whatever. Watching the clouds form over the mountains and then move out across the Plateau in northeastern Arizona was a summer ritual. Everyone in Arizona loves to point out that the whole state isn't a dry and dusty desert, there are mountains and with green grass and trees, but the rainfall pattern is highly concentrated in the higher elevations and even the high mountains are relatively dry most of the year. Simply put, the high country gets the rain in the summer and sometimes snow in the winter. The lower deserts are dry all year.
Down in the lower desert, we can wait all summer for one or two heavy rainfalls. In the high country it might rain one or two times a week, sometimes more frequently. In the early morning the skies will be almost clear, but by mid-morning, the clouds start to form over the higher hills and mountains and then suddenly begin to explode into huge cumulonimbus clouds systems that can dump rain and hail over large areas of the country. But it only rains right under the clouds. So you can stand on one side of the street and watch it rain on the other. On occasion as we watched the clouds form over the mountains and then slowly move across the desert, we would jump in our car and drive towards the rain. Once and while we could find a road that would take us into the path of the storm and we would drive until it was raining and then leap out of the car and stand around in the rain getting wet.
When I lived in Panama, I used to run to the window or outside to watch the rain, every day. None of people who lived there could understand my fascination with seeing buckets of water pour out of the sky. I still have to go outside and watch the rain. I am still amazed that water can actually fall out of the sky.
Down in the lower desert, we can wait all summer for one or two heavy rainfalls. In the high country it might rain one or two times a week, sometimes more frequently. In the early morning the skies will be almost clear, but by mid-morning, the clouds start to form over the higher hills and mountains and then suddenly begin to explode into huge cumulonimbus clouds systems that can dump rain and hail over large areas of the country. But it only rains right under the clouds. So you can stand on one side of the street and watch it rain on the other. On occasion as we watched the clouds form over the mountains and then slowly move across the desert, we would jump in our car and drive towards the rain. Once and while we could find a road that would take us into the path of the storm and we would drive until it was raining and then leap out of the car and stand around in the rain getting wet.
When I lived in Panama, I used to run to the window or outside to watch the rain, every day. None of people who lived there could understand my fascination with seeing buckets of water pour out of the sky. I still have to go outside and watch the rain. I am still amazed that water can actually fall out of the sky.
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