Hello All,
I used to believe that discussing the weather with someone meant you had nothing left to say to each other but state the obvious climate you are currently in. However, I now believe weather to be a fun topic to compare and contrast between ME and AZ. I guess the funny thing about discussing the weather in AZ is that there is no weather in AZ. Everyday is sunny with a clear blue sky and the temperature is somewhere between warm and hot. On the rare occurrence there are a few clouds in the sky, people sort of freak out about it. Almost as if the chance of rain is a scary thing, like they might melt if touched by water...which is a little dramatic in my opinion. But even the weather forecasters overreact to cloud coverage. It seems for every cloud I see in the sky, the chance of rain percentage goes up about 15%. When I first got out here I remember listening to a women explain to her granddaughter that clouds in the sky does not mean it is raining but if you see a dark cloud in the distant you can tell if it will bring rain. It was very cute to observe.
So, why am I rambling on about rain?
Well, I got caught in the rain this past week! It was sort of amazing!!(I realize my excitement over the rain storm is slightly hypocritical since I just expressed how I thought freaking out about clouds was dramatic, but the storm was a big deal ... and notice I use "the" not "a"? That is because it was the one and only storm that happened in the valley recently.)
I think the saying, "When it rains it pours" was created out here, because it is so true! The storm came out of nowhere and was not in the forecast (which is not a big surprise). It was suddenly dark in the middle of the afternoon, then over the course of my brief five minute walk across campus the wind gusts kicked in and the rain went from droplets to buckets. Then the lightening and thunder started in, the wind was blowing the rain sideways - it was wild! It went from nice sunny day to hurricane in about 15 minutes. I am very glad I was only out in it for a few minutes. I found some pics from it here: http://watchusplaygames.com/tag/may-9/
My colleagues were all finding alternative routes home and even to their cars to avoid the rain. Traffic slowed on most roads because no one here really knows how to drive in the rain (or over standing water in general) because it is so rare. A friend of mine from Maine who teaches junior high in Phoenix says if there is rain when school is in session it is the equivalent to the first snow storm in Maine; all of her students will stop whatever they are doing and rush to the window to watch the sky fall!
It was so great to whip out my umbrella, which really impressed native Arizonians. "Why yes, I carry one with me at all times." I do this because I spent nearly 25 years in a place where the saying was, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute." I understand that drastic weather changes do not happen here often, but being prepared for them is one hard habit to break!
So, from "if you don't like the weather, wait a minute" to "when it rains it pours" just another difference from ME to AZ.
Thanks for reading!
- Molly
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