Here in Phoenix, we long for monsoon season to begin. Clouds now hang in the distance teasing us, and weathermen bait us with promises of When will it rain? Find out tonight at 10! Now they're promising us thunderstorms rolling through every evening this week. But last weekend, they predicted storms. Didn't happen!
The monsoon season officially started on June 15, but the dewpoint has to be at 55 for three days in a row in order for rain to fall in the valley. For most of last week, the dewpoint was around 45, but this evening it was finally at 52 with clouds building all around us. I took a long bike ride last Thursday morning under dark purple skies with no fear that I'd get rained on. Little veils hung down from clouds in the distance, but the rain evaporated before it ever hit the ground. But tonight as I stepped outdoors, there were actually sprinkles. Woo hooooo! But we're still not there yet. Anyplace I've lived before, the rain has fallen effortlessly, so it's hard to imagine it's so dang complicated!
Clouds building in the distance, but they won't make it into the valley.
Sprinkles in the pool.
I'm sure it sounds crazy to people in other parts of the country who've been enduring months of rainy stormy weather , but when you live with constant sun, you can't wait for the magnificent lightning shows, the towering walls of dirt (the haboobs), and the drenching rain to break the monotony of the continuous beating sun! Here are a few pictures (not mine) from recent years.
Haboob
Phoenix Lightning
In monsoon season, I actually watch the local weather. It reminds me of chasing the firetruck when I was a kid growing up in a little town. There's something exciting about watching fools in trucks and SUV's driving through flooded washes and having to be towed out, interstates shut down because Arizona isn't set up to handle much runoff, those little beeps on the television issuing severe storm warnings, etc...
Here's a clip of a massive haboob in 2007. I'll keep you posted!
Sprinkles in the pool. 
