I’ll admit - the monsoons are one of my favorite times in Tucson. I grew up in a city where we averaged maybe 3″ of rain per year. So these huge rain and thunder and lightening storms that cross our town mid Summer are fascinating to me. (Tucson averages closer to 12″ of rain per year, by the way.)
These huge storms build up in the Southeast and move across the town heading Northwest, usually mid to late afternoon. It’s really quite amazing, you can look at the clouds and see exactly where it is raining and where it isn’t. You can look West and see a couple of high fluffy white clouds, and the next moment look East and see nothing but dark low thunderclouds.
This year’s monsoons seem a bit tame compared to other years, but at times, the storms are incredibly violent, just ripping through the city, dropping rain and lightning bolts, with a low grumble of thunder to accompany its trip across town.
And then you get fabulous sunsets, like this one that I just caught the end of:
