Waiting for the Rain
2006 was, meteorologically speaking, the oddest year in New Mexico history. The first six months of the year were the driest on record: there was something less than an inch's worth of rain in that entire period. The second half of the year was the wettest on record--- it came down in buckets.
We rejoiced. We'd just got over a nine-year-long drought, during which the Rio Grande turned at one point into a little ditch, and the sound of rain pounding on the skylights was like a chorus of angels. Our smallish lawn, which had been slowly dying during the drought, sprang again to life.
Our rainy season--- the "monsoons"--- occur in July and August, when New Mexico gets half its yearly rain. This year we seems to have abundant rain--- except where I live. I think we've had less than ten rainstorms in the last six months. On a dozen occasions I've stepped outside and seen rain and lightning in a 360-degree circle around me--- but directly overhead was blue sky and bright sunshine.
In short, I am cursed.
I'd really like to know what's gone wrong with my little microclimate. This isn't the first year this has happened--- for the first couple years we lived here, we got no rain at all, though the rest of the state fared all right.
I am hoping that the remains of Hurricane Dean will push through and alter the situation, though I suspect they won't have the strength to get this far north.
I'm going to have my very own Dust Bowl if this goes on much longer.
We rejoiced. We'd just got over a nine-year-long drought, during which the Rio Grande turned at one point into a little ditch, and the sound of rain pounding on the skylights was like a chorus of angels. Our smallish lawn, which had been slowly dying during the drought, sprang again to life.
Our rainy season--- the "monsoons"--- occur in July and August, when New Mexico gets half its yearly rain. This year we seems to have abundant rain--- except where I live. I think we've had less than ten rainstorms in the last six months. On a dozen occasions I've stepped outside and seen rain and lightning in a 360-degree circle around me--- but directly overhead was blue sky and bright sunshine.
In short, I am cursed.
I'd really like to know what's gone wrong with my little microclimate. This isn't the first year this has happened--- for the first couple years we lived here, we got no rain at all, though the rest of the state fared all right.
I am hoping that the remains of Hurricane Dean will push through and alter the situation, though I suspect they won't have the strength to get this far north.
I'm going to have my very own Dust Bowl if this goes on much longer.
posted by dubjay at 2:10 PM
5 Comments:
Have you considered washing the car and not putting it in the garage?
A sacrificial chicken is what's called for.
As soon as I posted, the sky darkened. Clouds came out of =nowhere,= and I began to hear thunder.
I was hoping that once I revealed the negligence of the Cloud Gods, they'd make up for lost time.
I even put out a weeny little sprinkler to taunt them.
But nothing. It's raining all around, and we haven't had a drop.
Perhaps alternate universes have overlapped, and you've turned into a new Wild Cards character:
The Rain-Faker, with a specific telekinetic power that repels rain clouds within several miles.
If you really want rain, Walter, you need to move to the UK. We've just had the wettest summer on record (have you noticed how it's always the wettest/driest/ hottest/coldest season on record?).
First we had floods in the North around Sheffield and Doncaster and then it was the turn of the West Midlands - the historic town of Tewkesbury was underwater for about a week.
The response of our Government was to declare that they still intended to allow develoment in flood plains ...
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