I think it should be a holiday when the summer rains have crested over the inch mark, a “personal holiday” anyway, if you get one where you work. With a second day in a row yesterday with THREE sets of thunderstorms going over Catalina, and hearing thunder from about 1 PM until 9 PM, it was a fantastic day. And if you didn’t get goose bumps watching the sky darken over the Cat mountains around 5 PM (second shot), well, I feel sad.
Me? I vacated dinner to make sure I didn’t miss anything as that started to happen. Its a matter of priorities. I am a poor dinner guest in summer. But what a dramatic sky that was in its greenish blackness rising over the Catalina mountains!
And with 0.36 inches total yesterday, and a nice lightning show between 7 and 9 PM, the rain gauge in my gravel driveway has now received 1.09 inches over the past 48 hours. Happy desert!
Some areas of the Canada del Oro wash watershed received over an inch in the past 24 h after having been largely bypassed by the previous day’s rain. So, that is great news, too. Is there anything better than seeing water in the washes here in the desert?
So, we have “inched” that bit closer to that happy happenstance, to be alliterative there for a second. To the left, one of those intense rainshafts that did it. Rainshafts are like tree roots in a way. Sharp, vertical rainshafts like this one (looking toward the Charoleau Gap) are likely associated with tops right above it that are probably 40,000 feet or more above ground level.
And of course, with the outflow winds gusting to around 40 mph, there was some very local some storm damage as well along with some flooding (documented below).
Seems like another day with great clouds (like those in the last photo), rain and lightning around. Enjoy!
