Broadway River and Other Curiosities

Okay, I've spent the past four hours sorting papers, and an hour and a half before that hauling boxes into storage.  It's almost 1 AM, and I haven't started writing this entry yet, and last night I only had four hours of sleep.  So tonight's entry is going to be another of those photo-heavy "look at this!" ones, as Linda calls them.  Sorry, guys.  I'll make it up to you after the appraiser's been and gone.

It turns out I'm not the only Tucsonan who really appreciates the monsoon. Aside from the practical need for rain, other people seem to like the "dramatic weather" about as much as I do. Quoting from Kathleen Allen in the Arizona Daily Star:

"Lluvia: A Monsoon Exhibition," Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop, through Aug. 13. We summer dwellers love, love, love the monsoons. So we understand how they can inspire artists. This show pays tribute to those desert rains by way of artists such as Michael Contreras, Matthew Colin Honeycutt, John Salgado and Jeff Litvak.

The gallery is at 222 E. Sixth St. and is open 1 to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Free. 881-5335.

One of the reason's I've been obsessed with taking monsoon pictures is that despite the very late start, it's been a good, active monsoon this summer.  Last year's monsoon was a total bust.  I wanted to take pictures of it last summer for my relatively new blog and relatively small readership, but there was nothing to photograph.  It only ever seemed to rain after dark or over the mountains, hardly ever in my zip code by daylight.

This past month, it's been a different story.  I've hardly been able to step outside without seeing something worth photographing.  Since the storm on Friday, I think it's rained every day.  The lunchtime storm on Tuesday, while I was out to lunch with Alicia from St. Michael's, was especially photogenic.  Here by daylight were most of the hallmarks of the rain and flooding I was unable to photograph Friday night.  Let me show them to you.


 
Ah, the night before.  Early Monday evening, this street near 22nd and Wilmot was flowing like a river.



This looks like a fire, but it's a cloud - a very large, very dark cloud, as seen from Broadway and Wilmot early Tuesday afternoon.  Notice how half of Mt. Lemmon is obscured by more cloud.  It had already been raining, was still raining, and would rain some more.


 
It's really not a good idea to drive in the right lane at 30 mph when there's flooding. 



Cars navigate the Broadway Boulevard River on Tuesday afternoon.



I told ya, didn't I?  I said there were whitewater rapids in front of St. Michael's on Friday evening.  Well, here's your proof, from Tuesday afternoon!  At times the water splashed over the top of the fire hydrant on the right.



This was about 5:15 PM the same day, near St. Michael's.  The view is very similar to the one John photographed on our very first day in Tucson in March 1986.

 

Tuesday, 5:20 PM.  Mountains of cloud obscure mountains of stone.  If the Florida fire were still burning, this would have put it out. Instead there's been flood damage in the area.



This wash next to Fuddrucker's on Speedway near Wilmot is dry most of the time.  Tuesday at dusk, however, it was a nice little brown creek.

More later.

Karen