Wednesday, August 6, 2014

ABC WEDNESDAY

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D  is for...
A DISAPPOINTING  DOWNPOUR
Here come the monsoon clouds.

The area of Southern California in which we live, officially receives an average of 10 inches of rain a year.  This means we are geographically designated as a desert climate, but thanks to the Colorado River which is piped across the desert to our coastal and inland valleys we are able to have water to live, and live comfortably

From April to October we usually get no rain at all. However, once in a while the weather does something unusual.  Instead of coming from the northwest, it  decides to come up from Mexico and the southeast.  We call this monsoon weather. It is then that we get rain in the middle of summer -- July or August and sometimes a lot of it.

This year we are particularly glad to succumb to the monsoon because we are now in our fourth year of drought.  When we saw the monsoon thunderstorms spill over the eastern mountains towards the coast we were so excited.  We have had less than three inches of rain so far this year.  

But all we got was about three one hundreds of an inch.  Other places not far away received  far more than they wanted.  There were flash floods and mud slides all around our immediate area. 

But all we got was just enough to make the roads wet. We did hear a few rolls of thunder and Scruffy slunk off to the back of his kitti-litter cupboard and couldn't be coaxed out.

The first rain for us is like the first snow to the kids in the northern regions of the U.S.   So exciting!

But we were destined to be disappointed.

Ah well, Moth will be back to watering the flower pots by hand again.  Water rationing has begun, so no hoses and limited use on a daily basis.

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This is my contribution to ABC Wednesday, the meme begun and continued by Mrs. Nesbitt and administrated by Roger Owen Green. Our deep gratitude to them for their devotion. We have some really unique entries, so just click HERE to see the many other entries. 

12 comments:

jabblog said...

My goodness, we take almost for granted that we will have enough water to satisfy our needs. I hope you get enough and not too much. We take, in UK, what we consider our right far too readily.

Mersad said...

I just hope the weather will turn to your advantage soon. I now heat and drought as well as rain and thunderstorms. Never a balance...

Mersad
Mersad Donko Photography

Roger Owen Green said...

we got 2.5 inches in an hour yesterday evening! Too much at once! localized flooding.
ROG, ABCW

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

you go dancing in the rain when it first falls? I once let my daughter play in the rain.

Anonymous said...

I hope there's a good downpour soon! The monsoon has been abysmal in parts of India this year too.

snafu said...

Just read an article on the water situation in California, not cheerful reading. I hope it rains more usefully soon.

mrsnesbitt said...

We are having a lovely summer at the moment! May even get over to Bridlington at the weekend - but we tend to go more rural when we tootle about - always wave to Flamborough! lol!
Denise ABC Team

kaybee said...

May I suggest you relocate back to Canada? We have had much more than our fair share of rain this summer. We are not complaining though - oh no! Everywhere is lush and emerald green, and the water keeps the cinch bugs out of the lawns. I love this weather - reminds me of England! Your photos are beautiful, ChrisJ...especially of the storm clouds!

Gattina said...

And we have too much rain ! Even in this moment it rains, lol !

Reader Wil said...

Gattina has too much rain and we in the neighbouring country, have too little in the place where I live, while in other parts of this small country the rain is coming down in buckets.Strange isn't it?!
Your photos are so sharp and very beautiful!
Thanks for visiting. I haven't seen a dingo myself. He looks like an ordinary dog, but it is forbidden to keep this wild animal as a pet or to cross breed him with domestic dogs. At least I read this somewhere.
Have a nice weekend!
Wil, ABCW Team.

sandy said...

Up in the mountains we got quite a bit of rain. I pray we all get more rain soon!

Louisette said...

Sametimes toomuch water in same country, and dry weather in other,Hier in Belgium small storms ans rain also to much for the season.