Weathermen and monsoons

This whole week (until Sunday) our local weathermen have been warning us we're under excessive heat warnings.  Which, to me, is kind of silly.  We live in Arizona.  It's the middle of July.  Of course it's going to be hot!  Yesterday it was 111° and today the high is expected to be 112°.

Now, if it get 115° or higher, then yeah, that's excessive heat and warrants a warning.  

And to top it all off we are entering monsoon season, so there are threats of thunderstorms (which never seem to happen) and it's humid.  

We Arizonians don't like the humidity.

Speaking of monsoons, let me tell you of my first Arizona monsoon.

Sean and I moved to Arizona from Massachusetts (where I grew up) the beginning of September, 1991.  I'll never forget him telling me we arrived at a good time because it was monsoon season.

Now, back east in Massachusetts, we did not get monsoons, but we usually heard about them in the southern states, especially Florida.  And they were usually doosies.  Very high winds, heavy rains, flooding, trees uprooted and all that good stuff.

So when Sean told me it was monsoon season here in our new home state of Arizona, I was anticipating all the happenings I'd heard about as a kid growing up in New England.

I couldn't wait.

Boy was I disappointed.

That first monsoon, I'll never forget it.  I worked the closing shift at the mall and all we heard all day was how the monsoon was coming and the rains along with it.  And all I could think of was I hope it hits after work so I can see it.  

I love storms.  

I love watching the rain fall.  

And the lightning strike.

If I could be a storm chaser, I probably would be.

So I'm driving home about 9:30-10:00 that night, the freeway is nearly deserted, and the sky is lighting up with a spectacular lightning show.  Things were hopping now with this monsoon rolling in!!  I wanted to get home so I could A) watch the storm coming and not have to worry about running off the road and B) not get caught in the high winds and heavy rains.

I get home, set up the lounge chair in the back yard, get comfortable, watch the lightning and wait for the madness that comes with a monsoon.

Or so I thought.

There's more madness in my family tree than there is in an Arizona monsoon!

I think I sat out in the back yard for over an hour waiting for the "big monsoon" that never  happened.  Well, it happened.  Just not how I thought it was going to happen.

I have sense learned that in our neck of the Arizona woods, a monsoon simply means it get's hot and sticky, possibly we'll get some lightning, and maybe, just maybe a bit of rain.

But not much.