Monsoon Season...

 

Yes, it's a thing.  We've heard Steph complain about "monsoon season" in years past: "Hot, humid, rainy, and a 90% chance of swamp ass."

A monsoon is a wind and rain event.  The local news and weather is full of "How to prepare for Monsoon Season" PSAs.  Unlike hurricane season in the Gulf Coastal areas, which runs from June 1st to November 30th, Monsoon Season here in the desert is June 15th through September 30th.  The National Weather Service (federal weasels) is predicting a 60% chance that it will be hotter than normal and a 40% chance that it will be drier than normal.  In other words: flip a coin, we don't know, either.

There was a piece on this morning's local news telling about the 50 huge pumps that are located along freeways in the Phoenix area to pump water out of low-lying areas to prevent flooding on the roads.  Joan and I have discussed this: there are places along the Hwy 51 and 60 freeways that look like giant concrete canals, just waiting to be filled with water; big walls on either side guaranteed to hold it in.

In Texas, we put away anything that could get caught in the wind and would become a "missile or cannonball."  Similar advice here, with talk on those news/weather reports about "patio umbrellas (with weighted bases) becoming airborn."  We took hurricane preparedness serious - I don't see the same concerns here.  Steph told us that their previous house would shake in the high winds and some people in that neighborhood lost shingles.  Nothing to be trifled with, but not the same massive intensity as a hurricane bearing down on you.

I have to say that I don't miss the concerns about hurricanes, where part of my morning routine during the season was to check weather development in the Atlantic, even when we were far away from Texas.  The weasels would predict higher or lower chances than "normal" of how many hurricanes there might be and what number of those would become "intense" (Category 3 or higher).  My take on it: the weasels would predict and Mother Nature would laugh... and any storm with a name got my attention.

Do I feel less concern about Monsoon Season vs Hurricane Season?  I do; maybe I shouldn't.  This will be our first Monsoon Season in Arizona and I doubt that Jim Cantore will start talking about a monsoon storm 5 days out.  I don't see "Monsoon Evacuation Lanes" on the freeways (yes, that is a thing in Gulf Coastal areas).  We no longer have a house that is on the high point of 7 feet elevation on an island.  We aren't paying ever-rising hurricane insurance premiums,  Our house in Texas survived a direct hit in 2008 from Hurricane Dolly.  It was only a Category 2... well, predicted to be a Cat 1, but then ramped up as it made landfall, then sat over the top of our part of the coast for 22 hours as a Cat 2.  We had minor damage to our house, mostly cosmetic.  But the amount of damage in the area was massive, and the economic impact to the local economies was harsh.  The weather weasels were there for the start of it, standing in the most open areas with their windbreaker jackets flapping in the breeze, then reporting from the middle of the street where they could find the deepest street flooding.  And then, in 24 hours, they were gone... no reporting on the massive clean-up and repairs that are left behind.

I hope Monsoon Season is not like that.  I can change my underwear twice a day, as necessary.  I understand humid.  But I have never seen a haboob (giant dust storm) in person.  Yet.

--------

Situational Awareness...

I have had two classes recently where situational awareness is stressed: the Concealed Carry Permit class (you want to be aware of what is going on around you, especially in a parking lot situation or while in a public place), and in the Can Am Ryker class, where a lot of basic motorcycle handling revolves around knowing what the traffic around you is doing.  I have been practicing both of those situations for a long time.

This afternoon, Joan suggested we go to Five Guys for lunch.  I don't see any scenario where I would turn that down.  When we got out of the car, I make it a point to look around before we step away from the car.  Inside Five Guys, I take a second to scan through the seating area.  No issues.  Lunch was tasty, and from there we went to the Walmart Neighborhood Store that is nearby.  Again, as is my routine, I looked around before we parked and after getting out of the car.  We went inside.

Joan focuses on what she needs to get and determines the most efficient way to move through the store.  I look around as I push the shopping cart behind her.  This is what we do, and why I will ask if she wants me to "ride shotgun" for any trip to the store.  We got everything on her list and went to the self-check area.  While she scans our purchases and puts them into bags, I look around.  Again, this is how we operate.  She finishes the scanning and leaves it up to me to get out my credit card and pay.  As she puts bags in the cart, I scan the area between us and the door.  No, I am not paranoid - I am being situationally aware.

On the way to the car, I ask her, "Did you see the kid that walked through the check out area; who looked like Lurch from the Addams Family?"

"What?"

"The kid - an employee.  He looked like Lurch from the Addams Family."

"No, I didn't see that."

"He was wearing a green tu-tu... a 6 foot 2 guy... wearing a green tulle tu-tu... you didn't see that?"

"No, I didn't see that."

One of us is an efficient shopper, the other is situationally aware.

;-)