It's Monsoon Season!

For the first day in a week, I was able to go outdoors into an environment that contained less than 50% relative humidity.  Over the past week, 3.14" of rain has fell at my location, and luckily, I live in a location that has received some of the lesser amounts of rain.  Other areas nearby have received as much as 2" per day!  Needless to say, this has led to saturated soils and the issuance of Flood Watches on a daily basis.

What has caused all of this ruckus in our semi-arid climate?  Blame it on the Monsoon!  The Monsoon is a yearly climate pattern in which moisture comes north from the Baja California or the Gulf of Mexico and causes slow-moving storms to form over the foothills which then go out over the Eastern Plains.  Due to their slow forward movement, flooding rains are not uncommon. 

These storms usually come at the height of our metro area's rush hour, which causes traffic jams and numerous accidents, due to the flooded out areas under overpasses and in low lying areas with poor or clogged drainage systems.  Also, Cherry Creek usually get filled due to the storm drains feeding into it. Parking lots get turned into temporary rivers and we usually get some serious cloud-ground lightning strikes around here from these storms. 

So, while we may be bothered by the daily rains, we need the monsoonal moisture, as it usually provides for as much as 1/3 of our annual precipitation.  Now, what is one beautiful occurrence that we get with these daily storms?  A gorgeous rainbow with the colorful backlit skies from the sunset... 

Until next time, enjoy the moisture, stay dry and get out there and enjoy the colorful show that Mother Nature gives us.