Monsoon Rains

We are in our fourth summer in Santa Fe and this is the first one experiencing a "normal" monsoon. The previous three summers we were here the seasonal summer rains did not come or were sparse. 

It will take more than one season of rain to get us out of the serious drought we are in, but how refreshing it is to have water in the rivers and reservoirs, making a dent in the deficit.

And how refreshing to see some green out in the empty spot between our driveway and the walking trail.

Sun in the morning before clouds roll in. The field has greened up.

In a normal monsoon season, Santa Fe gets 5.5 inches of rain from July to the end of September. 

Those three months account for almost half our yearly precipitation. When the monsoon storms didn't come for a few years, the skies remained gloriously blue and the breezes were refreshing and dry, and I loved it even as the area slid into dangerous drought.

This July has been rainy, gloomy, dark and overcast almost every day. Wet clouds hang over the Sangre de Cristos mountains to our east and over the Jemez mountains to our west, snagged on the peaks. Thunderclouds boil up overhead every afternoon.

Every afternoon

The mountains get daily rain, good for the rivers. But below in the basin our rain is localized and isolated as storm clouds move through the landscape. Mostly it threatens and doesn't deliver.

But so far this July we have had three rain events from all the roiling cloud activity, and it totaled an inch and three quarters of soaking rain in my gardens so far. A good start. 

Even the wasteland of dry sand and packed caliche that bounds our driveway has greened up with grasses that have laid dormant for several years of drought. They were just waiting.

Still lots of brown bare spots, even with the rain.

This area next to us is common space and not tended. I don't mind the open, scrubby look, but there are bare spots that need something and this summer I planted three tiny Gambel oaks out in the brown patches. 

Do you see them? No? 

They are out there, each one two inches tall and thriving with the rain. Everything looks better with just a little precipitation. We need more, though. More. Don't let this good start to monsoon season end too quickly.