Monsoon Season

This is a picture that I took from my dining room window during the dust storm.

This is an aerial shot of the dust storm taken by Lyons Roofing. https://www.facebook.com/LyonsRoofingAZ/?fref=mentions

One of the many things that is new to us is the Arizona Monsoon Season. 

AZDOT defines the monsoon season:

 

Arizona's monsoon season begins in June and continues through September. With it comes higher humidity, which can lead to thunderstorms, heavy rain, lightning, hail, high winds, flash flooding, dust storms and extreme heat.

 In the 3 weeks that we have been in the Phoenix area, we have experienced two large dust storms. As the first one was coming toward us, Martin and I were out driving around. He saw it in the distance and immediately identified it as a dust storm coming our way. It was so unusual looking that I didn't know what to think of it. We made it home just in time, though. I've heard that if you are out driving and caught in one, you have no choice but to pull over because there is no visibility!

In many ways, it just felt like a strong thunderstorm with dust instead of rain. However, the winds were in the 70-80 mph range, so in some areas there was a lot of damage. 

We are slightly giddy when we think about the cooler temperatures that will be coming our way in October! The average high in October is only 89 degrees! I've always imagined that if we ever made a huge move that it would be somewhere with a cooler climate like Alaska or Montana. I still giggle that we moved to a warm climate. It's so completely not what we had imagined for ourselves. Nevertheless we are on a great adventure together and we are going to enjoy the journey!