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Monsoon
by Laura | |
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The season we have been waiting for has arrived. Monsoon.
It is an incredible experience. Usually the days
become very hot, averaging 107 degrees (102 in the shade). Not as dry
as, say, June. Humidity and clouds build through the afternoon until
the sky becomes ominous; storm clouds in several shades of steel-grey
steamroll in at 55mph, obliterating the mountains in minutes. Then,
as though a switch has been tripped, the rain and wind whirl all around.
lightning and thunder louder and more fierce than one can imagine pierce
the sky. The temperature falls to 75. Humidity levels stabilize, and
the 30 degree temp change allows for a quick walk in-between bouts of
rain - it is almost cold....
Some days, if one is not locked inside an office,
it is possible to take time to watch the monsoon build; the clouds puff
and billow as though choreographed in an exotic mating ritual. Walls
of rain are visible in the distance. Breezes spring up, soon to become
50 mph whirlwinds. The colors of the sky change every second; blues,
greys, pinks, yellows, browns. Desert colors in the air.
Some days the monsoon is over in a flash - and
sunsets are spectacular.
Always there are rainbows. The interplay of light
and storm is so intricate that rainbows seem made of painted concrete,
and they often have shadow rainbows, translucent, like tinted lucite.
Two for the price of one.
Flash floods abound. New-formed lakes and ponds
and puddles invite children to create rain games, puddle sports. The-car-stuck-in-a-flooded-underpass
is a summer tradition, as is the stupid-motorist-driving-into-a-raging-wash-and-having-to-be-saved-by-fire/police....
Homeowners dig ditches to reroute unwanted water build-up...
Puddle-jumpers put on their sandals and splash
around (when there is no fear of a lightning strike).
Well, time to find some sandals.
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