Stormy Sunset at Kofa
A Desert Monsoon?
India comes to mind when you mention a monsoon. But a monsoon in Arizona? Are you kidding me?
Actually, Arizona has a monsoon season just like India.
The word "monsoon" is derived from the Arabic word "mausim" ("season" or "wind-shift"). Fundamentally, a monsoon is linked to a shifting wind.
The Arizona Monsoon is a meteorological event that occurs during the summer months. During the monsoon, wind patterns shift bringing moisture from the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico into Arizona.
Strong summertime surface heating (typically 105 degrees) along with that moisture creates intense atmospheric destabilization leading to powerful outbreaks of thunderstorms.
The Shot
Jon Christofersen and I were in Arizona this August, hoping to position ourselves to photograph a monsoon storm. We stopped for two days in the Kofa Wildlife Refuge, south of Quartzite, Arizona.
The Refuge is 660,000 acres, and as near as we could tell, we were the only visitors. There were no other people and not even any new tire tracks on the dirt road. Perhaps the blistering 105-degree heat and total lack of shade explained why we had the place to ourselves.
On our second day, conditions looked promising for a monsoon storm in the Refuge. We set up our cameras only to be forced into the car by heavy rain. While we waited, the sun was quickly dropping towards the horizon and a beautiful yellow color was suffusing the sky.
As soon as the rain stopped, we scrambled to find a shot during the 10 minutes that the sun was still visible. The cholla cactus needles caught the backlight beautifully in the foreground. And the storm and distant mountains created an interesting background.
After the sun set, we crossed our fingers that the Jeep track was still passable back to the highway. Flash floods and washouts often make travel dicey on dirt roads. We were lucky and had an uneventful ride back to our hotel room in Quartzite.
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus