Cloud Light, Flagstaff, Arizona

Clouds lit up by the bright Arizona sunlight. Clouds blocking the sun, creating ephemeral shadows on the mountain slopes.

San Francisco Peaks, northern Arizona.

Northern Arizona Monsoon Season Approaches

Thunderhead cloud and Ponderosa pines, Flagstaff, Arizona

It's monsoon thunderstorm season here in northern Arizona, but with it being a La Nina weather pattern year, it's still dry. Far too dry. Extreme forest fires danger, but so far nothing like what's happened recently on the Colorado Front Range. 

This week there has at least been enough moisture inland from the Pacific Ocean to return some cumulus clouds, thunderheads, and very widely scattered showers. I love the clear blue Arizona sky, but cumulus clouds and t-heads accent it so beautifully.

Flagstaff, Arizona (where 85F is "hot"). 

Thunderhead and Sunbeams, Arizona

The summer monsoon season arrived in northern Arizona almost a week ago. Finally. We'd had a very dry, very windy spring. Very high forest fire danger. A few wildfires did break out but were quickly contained, unlike last year, and unlike this year in eastern Arizona, the ones you've seen on the news.

"Monsoon" is not the correct term for what we get here in Arizona, but it's the one that everybody uses. It's not at all like the monsoon season in southeast Asia, where it rains endlessly. Here, it's when ocean moisture (primarily from the Gulf of California down in Mexico) gets pulled up here. The moisture collides with the hot, sunny Arizona weather to form immense thunderhead clouds that rain down heavily, and often very locally. In a dry desert climate it's very welcome. And very beautiful.

Today was one of those days here in Flagstaff, only it was a "reverse monsoon". It rained early in the morning and was done by noon, instead of the other way around. Then the skies cleared somewhat, and in late afternoon I noticed this dramatic cloud and the streaming sunbeams.

(Click on the image to see a larger version).

You might also be interested in my Grand Canyon Photography blog.

See more of my photography at www.NaturalMoment.com

See my videos (including one of our amazing monsoon rains) on my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/naturalmoment