Chasing Thunderstorms

It’s pretty hot in Phoenix right now.  I’m usually comfortable up to about 104-105, but the past few days we’ve been barking up against 110-115…  and more than 110 is just, well, uncomfortable.  You step outside and within ten seconds you can feel your scalp prickling under the heat and your brain starting to cook.  A temp of 105 is just balmy, in comparison.  So we hide indoors, most of the time when it gets really hot.

I figure the easiest job in town, and the most pointless in terms of worth, is that of weatherman.  You really only need to know a few words… sunny, hot, dust storm, and perhaps “chance of rain,” but you only need to know that phrase about once a year.  And even then, if Susie Weather says there’s a 20% chance of rain, that’s an 80% chance that it won’t, right? 

There are other phrases that are way over-used by weather people, like “as well.”  If I ever hear a weatherperson (or any other newscaster for that matter) get through an entire piece without saying “as well” I think I’ll shake their hand and buy ‘em a Dan'l Webster cigar.  Anyway…

Yesterday, facing another 110+ day here in the valley, I invited Dave to accompany me on a quest to find a real live thunderstorm.  Most summer days you don’t have to go too far – just up the road to Payson and the Mogollon Rim, or up I-17 toward Flagstaff.  I wanted to feel those big fat thunderstorm raindrops splashing on my face, and hear lightning and thunder all around me and all it would take (hopefully) was two hours or so of afternoon driving to find some.

So we set off up I-17.  First stop was Johnny Rocket’s at Camp Verde for lunch. Then, we drove over through Cornville and Page Springs to check out some spots along Oak Creek we’d been talking about, and then through Sedona and north up through Oak Creek Canyon.  That’s where we started getting into the rain.

My intent was to find a really good quality drenching.  The rain was coming down steadily on the drive up through the Canyon, but I got distracted by being stuck behind 30 vehicles and a motorhome – which couldn’t manage much over 10 mph and didn’t know the meaning of the phrase “pull to the right and let faster traffic pass you.”  Which is the law here by the way. By the time we got to the top of the canyon, he was holding up about 50 cars.  But we enjoyed the rain with the windows down even if I did forget to stop and stand in it.

We continued north up 89A to Flagstaff and then headed south back down I-17 as it was getting late.  We stopped at Orme Ranch’s produce market and got a watermelon, a couple of tomatoes, a large squash and some peppers – we split the watermelon, I gave Dave a small tomato (kept the larger one for me, some friend huh?) and the squash and peppers were Dave’s.  I’m not much for squash.  The watermelon is the best I’ve had in a couple of years – and it has yellow flesh!  I’ve never seen a yellow watermelon before.

So I got home after dropping Dave off in Cave Creek; I hadn’t been home more’n two hours when I get a call from him.  It’s raining at his house.  It poured for a few minutes.  And while I was sitting here at my desk a few minutes later, I could hear lightning and thunder outside here also.  It rained, but only a sprinkle or two.  Maybe we’ll get more today – and I won’t have to drive to find it.