It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. NOT!
More like the Dust Bowl from “The Grapes of Wrath.”
(A classic novel for illiterate millennials whose notion of literacy is largely-illiterate social media posts.)
The heat and dryness go on and on and on …
Was 114 F (45.5 C) the past coupla days here in Phoenix / southern Arizona.
We’re in a “cooldown” at a mere 106 (41.1 C)!
Won’t last. In a few days it’s back up to 110 F (43.3 C) … at the end of August, when, in other regions, autumn’s already peaking through the seasonal veil.
More disconcerting than the severe heat is the absence of monsoons.
Bear in mind that Phoenix is bone dry 9-10 months of the year, thus is entirely dependent on a few months of monsoons for its annual water supply. This includes the ecosystem (such as replenishing cacti root systems).
So it’s not we the people who most suffer from the absence of monsoons but Mother Earth and her living creatures. My heart’s aching for them.
“Nonsoons” they’re being called here in the Valley of the Sun (aka Phoenix / southern Arizona).
How bad is it? Take a gander.
Translation: 0.27 INCH = 0.68 cm …. normal of 1.55 inches = 3.9 cm … deficit of 1.28 inches = 3.2 cm.
The monsoon season runs from June through September — with July-August often being the wettest.
Note that these figures are the TOTAL “precipitation” we’ve had since June.
Bone-fucking-dry.
Abnormally hot.
The Dust Bowl of 2019 is upon us.
As exhausting as the extreme heat is, month after month after month after month, it’s the lack of moisture that’s the killer.
Particularly for this water baby.
The undisclosed irony is: Phoenix remains one of the FASTEST-GROWING cities in the country! And the COUNTY where I live … the fastest-growing!
Water water everywhere … or nowhere.
Welcome to Phoenix, Arizona 2019. Darn Dust Bowl.
Any day now I expect to look out my car window and spot John Steinbeck slogging along the side of the dry dusty road.
Allelujah, Arizona! 