Monsoons - Wind direction can't make up it's mind!

[Denise]

We're not used to Monsoons! At least that's what the locals are telling us.

Since we've arrived to the Sedona area, we've dropped kids off to visit other grandparents in Phoenix, and drove up to Wickenberg for fireworks. Each night, we have had relentless winds and ominous clouds; along with heat from 100-113 degree's! Yesterday, I got some shots of our US flag showing the change of wind direction. In a 10 minute periods, the wind direction continuously changed from N, S, E, W and any combination of! We've had some loud thunder and lightning that lit up the sky.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Sounds normal to me. I'm heading back to Tempe in the morning. San Marcos is nice but the humidity is killing me!

[Rustic Eagle]

Been there, done it, and don't like it. It's amazing where the sand shows up weeks later inside the TT and TV.

Bob

[clutch]

I hope you didn't get to experience the big dust storm in Phoenix.

[Denise]

Originally Posted by clutch

I hope you didn't get to experience the big dust storm in Phoenix.

OMG no! We're up by Sedona area so missed that forunately. But I spoke with my granddaughters on the phone just a bit ago, and they told me what it was like. I guess it was pretty freaky.

Yeah, it's pretty weird being in the high desert and having those afternoon storms you typically see in humid parts of the US.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The Phoenix area has built up so much we don't get near as many dust storms like we did back in the late fifties and the early sixties. They usually aren't as severe anymore, either. I grew up about a mile south of Camelback Mountain and it was wicked weird to watch the wall of dust loom up north of the mountain then spill over just before engulfing us.

The good news is I caught a glimpse of my ankles peeking out from under the cankles today. I'll be glad to get out of this humidity here in SoCal tomorrow.

[Denise]

The girls said that cars were buried under dirt. I wish they had a camera with them!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I got home to Tempe yesterday afternoon and my neighbor across the street brought me up to date on all the "fun" I missed while I was gone, such as a 118 degree day, the major dust storm (we got off lucky; the manager of the restaurant I stopped at when I hit town told me she had 2" of dirt to clean up after the storm), the mobile home court's manager losing her home to a massive fire which also caused a major power outage, and another major power outage caused by a substation transformer fire which triggered a reverse 911 voluntary evacuation due to the heat. As I said, I got off lucky. None of my food had gone bad from the power outages, I didn't have any dirt to clean up and the only wind damage was a 20' stretch of skirting had to have the top cap reinstalled (and that stretch has to be reinstalled anyway every time someone sneezes at it).

It was 112 when I got to the house but I didn't sweat nearly as hard unloading my little truck as I did when I just walked the dog around the block in San Marcos that morning. I'm not missing that humidity. There IS something to a dry heat!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Here is a video of the dust storm. It was a doozy but they were common place back in the late fifties and early sixties.

[Denise]

Yeah that's one of the video's we saw. Not being from Phoenix, had I been there that night with the girls, I would have been freaked out!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

When I was a kid, my sister and I were fascinated and excited by them. Now, I would worry about wind damage and clean up.