0 days with no rain

It started raining at about 2 a.m. and has not stopped since. The last time it rained in Phoenix was on my birthday in mid-October, so around 143 days. At around 100 days the news got in on the (non)action. The perception of the desert is that it doesn't rain, but we have "monsoons" or a rainy season (I know, I laughed the first time I heard that too) in July. And normally it rains a lot in January.

During the monsoons it rains for days straight, there are many car crashes (lack of experience in rain), and a few dumb motorists always have to be towed from flooded washes or even low-lying intersections. We have a Stupid Motorist Law now - people have to pay the city back for their rescue services. People even drown in these flooded washes. The water just does not get absorbed.

One year I was trapped at work because the streets were so flooded I could not get home in my little car. Another storm knocked down power lines, which flipped around in the standing water on the streets - it took over 2 hours to drive about 4 miles - very scary. Sometimes the storms are led by huge walls of dust - I've seen this only once but it was almost apolcalyptic in its effect on my psyche. When the wall of dust hit - and everyone on our block was standing outside to watch it - things started flying around in the air a la Wizard of Oz. I had to duck to miss being hit by a flying trashcan.

When it doesn't rain throughout the winter it means that there will be no spring flowers. The hills are usually a psychedelic riot of color in March - green, yellow, orange, purple, and red. The hardiest of cactus start to wither. The silicone water barrier around my clerestory windows dries up, and the rain just pours in when it finally comes. I'm keeping an eye on that now. So much dust is in the air that cars are always coated with a thin film - and the air pollution is terrible because nothing washes away the particulates.

In general, people don't talk much about the weather here. You'd think in a land of such extremes that it would be a hot topic. If it goes over 118 in the summer, someone may mention it, but more likely they will tell you that they sunk their heels into the asphalt while pumping gas - because you already know it's hot. Newbies are given instruction on living in the desert - otherwise they might get 3rd degree burns from their steering wheels. But after this long period without rain I heard people say "It's supposed to rain tomorrow." And after about 3 weeks of tomorrows, it did.