Arizona Fire Season Starts Early

This is a haboob (pronounced haboo -- no giggling). It's a phenomena that occurs in the Sahara Desert and in the Southwest of the US. It is a duststorm proceeding a squall line in a thunderstorm as a result of the downdraft. It can be blinding and scary. I shot this photo on August 7th 2005. It rained hard on me that day -- I had to run with camera for about a mile to sanctuary in the truck, out of fear of a lightning strike. It's been hard to remember it raining here and I miss it.

I think the fire season has actually officially started here in Arizona. Over the last few days it has been fairly windy, with strong winds at night and in the morning coming from the norht and east. These winds have made riding a tad miserable. Today when I was sitting here playfully at my desk gazing out at the view to the east of the Superstition Wilderness, when I saw a plume of smoke. Panic was my immediate reaction.

You might wonder why would that guy panic, it's the middle of the winter. When you spend a lot of your life in the west -- and a lot of your time out doors -- an innate sense develops that tells you when it is dangerous, a mistake, to light a fire. The forest and the desert smell different (more like firewood, and less like a salad). They look different. The sonoran desert can be extremely lush and green. Right now the plants have sucked in all their moisture and sealed themselves against a serious dry spell. The desert is grey and dull and flat. It is so dry that when I pet Pearl the cat, it is a continuous electrostatic discharge. This doesn't phase her at all, in fact I think she likes it. I have never experienced this, and have discovered that other cats do this as well, so it can't be attributed to my formerly feral cat.

News reports have talked about the fact that it hasn't rained in forever, longer in fact, than in the entire recorded history. Normally things are more like this Wikipedia entry for Phoenix:

The normal annual rainfall at Sky Harbor International Airport is 8.29 inches (211 mm). March is the wettest month of the year (1.07 inches or 27 mm). Rain is particularly scarce from April through June. Although thunderstorms occur on occasion during every month of the year, they are most common during the monsoon season from July to mid-September as humid air surges in from the Gulf of California. These can bring strong winds, large hail, or tornadoes. Winter storms moving inland from the Pacific Ocean occasionally produce significant rains but occur infrequently. Fog is observed from time to time during the winter months.

Now 8.29 inches isn't really very much rain at all, especially considering that one day last year it rained between 3 and 5 inches in just a few hours here in Mesa. That means it really doesn't rain very often. According to this statement from the National Weather Service:

THE LAST TIME ANY RAINFALL WAS RECORDED AT PHOENIX SKY HARBOR AIRPORT WAS OCTOBER 18 OF 2005. THROUGH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 12TH...THAT IS 117 CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITHOUT MEASURABLE RAIN...0.01 INCHES OR MORE...OR EVEN A TRACE. THE PREVIOUS RECORD FOR SKY HARBOR WAS 101 CONSECUTIVE DAYS WHICH OCCURRED SEPTEMBER 23 1999 THROUGH JANUARY 1 2000.

I believe that we might have had a few drops fall the other night here in Mesa, with my only clue being the interesting pattern of circular shapes in the dirt on my windshield, proving clearly that not very much of it got wet. The absence of rain for so long clearly explains why children ask their Mothers questions like "Why is there water falling from the sky?," or run around trying to catch a raindrop on their tongue.

According to this in the Arizona Daily Star, a fire has gotten started near Payson, as of few days ago. The northern sky tonight had that wonderful red glow that frequently accompanies a fire up on the Rim. If the wind stops then Phoenix's infamous "Brown Cloud" will return. The contributions that a fire burning might make to the brown cloud could be severe. The easterly wind is currently blowing the cloud toward Los Angeles. If I were there -- I might consider blaming Phoenix for the pollution.

The fire out to the east went away as fast as it started. I am sure it was someone using the day (no burn ban, because of the wind) to burn off some trash. SO there was no reason to panic after all.