OPPOSITE OF WHAT ONE MIGHT EXPECT, summer is the wet season in the desert Southwest. (Wait, deserts have a wet season? I thought they were deserts because of a lack of water.) I’ve known about monsoon season, when rising inland temperatures draw in moisture laden air from the Pacific, the Sea of Cortez, and sometimes the Gulf of Mexico, but I’ve never experienced it because I’ve spent my previous summers away from the desert.
However, this summer (and probably many months to come) I’m in southwestern New Mexico helping out a friend and former nomad who’s dealing with cancer and other ailments. That means I’m getting rained on nearly every day. Sometimes only a little, sometimes a deluge.
Rain is usually not good for my state of mind. The gloominess is depressing. The humidity is oppressive. (Even humidity in the 25-30% range feels the same to me now as 80% did when I liven in North Carolina.) And I can’t just leave the van open all day to get the breeze and fresh air, because it might rain at any moment. I got fooled the other day when it was mostly sunny but a cloud sneeked in overhead and dropped its load on me.
But monsoon season has definite advantages. The biggie, of course, is that we need the water desperately. Rain also helps with the wildfires. And, important to me as someone without air conditioning, the temperatures are lower: highs in the eighties instead of the hundreds. Oh, and there are the fantastic clouds that look like they were lifted from Baroque paintings, minus the angels and elegantly dressed people.
Have you ever seen falling rain lit up like neon by the setting sun? I hadn’t.
How about a double rainbow? Notice how the order of the colors is reversed on the outer rainbow.
So, okay, I can not only deal with the wetter weather, I can enjoy it. For a while.
Mother Nature is SO beautiful & amazing!
Thank you Al, for sharing your experiences with us, as well as your fabulous photographs!
I look forward to reading each of your posts. I share many with your Northern Neighbors, so they too can experience the Desert Life✨
Amazingly beautiful. I like the remark re Baroque paintings!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful observations. In my 15 years living in New Mexico, I never noticed that the colors are reversed in the upper of a double rainbow! NM was definitely the rainbowiest place I’d ever lived.
Judy – Thanks for pointing that out. I never noticed that either. Aum Shanti, Barb
Stick around Quartzsite in the summer and you’ll see triple rainbows and no clouds right above ya. And you can learn on how to be stuck in place till the water goes away even tho you have no rain above you. Yep it hits those hills around Quartzsite then runs downhill pretty quick. Many a person has been harmed trying to drive on pavement when the water passes through town.
I have definitely become a fan of your writing and your photos. Bless you for sharing and bring us pleasure.
Visit the desert during the monsoon season—on my bucket list.
Fabulous photos! Thanks for sharing them and your experience.
Al, I really enjoy your posts. The photos today are magnificent.
Thank you
I have some serious questions about New Mexico that do not necessarily concern travel. Because of your current situation you may very well be able to point me in the right direction for further info.
Is there a way to contact you via email or whatever?
editor.crvl@gmail.com
Wow, so lovely, thanks for sharing your photos. I’m going to camp in New Mexico for the first time at Rock City for Koko Fest September 7-11, then do some exploring for a week or two, find a place to put my new blow up paddle board into one of those gorgeous lakes.Suggestions welcome ?!
Another great article!
You are in Mimbres!
No place like it in the world.
Thank you for the wonderful pictures.
This is my third year in SW New Mexico and this is the best monsoon season yet, I am also from the southeast originally but this humidity will go away.
Most people will acknowledge and are in awe of the creation, but won’t or don’t know to acknowledge and be in awe of the Creator! Our Heavenly Father, appreciates and acknowledges those who worship Him, and delights in what He gifted mankind with. That rainbow was proof of, or a seal to His promise to never again bring a deluge on the planet. So, rain yes, a gift. Flooding, mankind’s work of poor planning and creating climate disruption.
Thanks for sharing the photos and thoughts.
Stunning photos! Thank you so much for sharing with me…an armchair traveler (for now).
hang in there, the Manmade toxic chemicaled geo-engineered weather is just causing upheaval and disasters galore to Earth’s natural world and life on the surface of earth….. your pics are very colorful but that color is from alot of chemicals too…i hope you all find ways and support to stay in harmony and balance and calm thruout this hard times tyring to suppress the Higher Light consciousness evolution that Earth is needing to go thru but being badly harmed and messed with.
Amaaaazing photography
Bob Wells, Inspirational Nomad–after living on the road for 5 years and now wanting to sell his new home base he just bought 2 months ago–seems very lost. Do you have any words of wisdom for this fellow?
Amazing pictures, thank you. I lived in the high desert of Ariz and saw some great things, wish I had a way to take pictures back than. Really miss it. It was back in the 80’s.
Nice!