Around the Bluhmin’ Town

By

Judy Bluhm

Haboob. A dense, violent, massive wall of dust that is a mile high and maybe 100 miles wide, moving at thirty to seventy miles per hour. Apocalyptic. And if you missed the nightmare of dust last week, lucky you. Some of us got caught in the menacing veil of brown grime that belongs in a horror movie. It wreaked havoc on the Valley of the Sun and then took its wind and rain up to Prescott in one big, amazing storm.

Yep, the monsoon season is full of fun. It is time to anchor the trees and tie down the loose items on our decks and patios. Oh, you might want to hold onto small children, secure the patio furniture and run for cover. Big blowing gusts of wind hurtling large objects, uprooting trees, ripping off roofs and creating a layer of dust on everything is one of the special features of living in our beautiful corner of the world. It’s called “monsoon madness.”

What’s up with all the dust? Even when we don’t have a haboob, we can often see a dust devil swirling around like a top. Wait, is that heading towards my car that I just washed? Some scientists claim that dust particles actually “bring us together,” since they assert that little dirt molecules from as far away as China can be sitting on our dining room table in Arizona. I suppose this fact brings new and sentimental value to the soot that settles on our furniture. Who knew that our dust was so exotic

Dust is just an annoyance. But the dreaded haboob is a frightening, sky darkening, blinding event. It’s like a tsunami gathering force and moving across the Valley and is a sight to behold. Dear Readers, if you ever see a brown-gold mass of thick clouds rushing towards you, it is time to turn around and run for your life! Choking dust storms are one more special feature of Phoenix during the summer.

Stories of dogs hiding under beds, cats chasing their tails and horses rocking back and forth are a few of the “weird happenings” during monsoon season. People say that their animals are aware of storms approaching by all manner of “odd behavior,” from barking, hopping, hiding, rolling, neighing and chirping. It seems our pets or wildlife are “tuned in” to the weather. Bunnies, with brains the size of peanuts, seem to have the forecast all figured out. They run for cover and huddle together, long before the first drops of rainfall hit the ground.

And finally - rain! The Navajos say that when clouds look like sheep, the rain will be coming. I’m looking at a herd of sheep right now forming in the northern sky. Watch out for haboobs, loose objects, dust devils and flashes of lightning. Next time you see the wind roaring, head for cover. With a little luck, plenty of sheep will be gathering.

Arizonans don’t get too worked up about weather. We just dust ourselves off and look forward to more rain. And we deal with whatever comes with it.

Judy Bluhm is a writer and a local realtor. Contact Judy at [email protected] or visit www.aroundthebluhmintown.com.