Photo: Yesterday's Double Rainbow in Central Phoenix.

This is an iPhone photo of yesterday's double rainbow in central Phoenix, taken from my office window.

The remnants of yet another Pacific hurricane drifted into the Valley of the Sun.  We received only a little rain, but this double rainbow was a treat.

This week we have photos of the people of the people of Bhutan posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Storm-Blown Bougainvillea Flower Petal

This is an odd shot in the aftermath of last Saturday's severe wind and rain storm.  The storm did a lot of damage, tearing off tree limbs and uprooting trees in Phoenix/Scottsdale.

The storm also blew a cluster of bougainvillea flower petals up onto a glass window where the horizontal driving rain plastered the flowers onto the glass.  This is just an iPhone photo of this unusual, delicate remnant of the storm.

That is Mummy Mountain in Paradise Valley in the background.

This we have posted photos of some of the mountain temples of Bhutan on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Haboob moving across the Valley of the Sun

Here are two more photos of the haboob that moved across the Valley of the Sun on Friday.

The first photo shows the haboob as it arrived, with clear skies about to be engulfed in a wall of dust.

The second photo shows the worst density of the dust storm about 5 minutes later.  In another 5 minutes or so, it had blown through and was over.

(Like yesterday, please excuse the quality of the iPhone photos with reflections through my office window.)

Perhaps this dust storm activity on Friday as a warning about yesterday, as we had amazingly strong winds and rain that blew down trees and tree limbs all over town.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos of Bhutan, featuring its mountain temples.

Photo: Before and after the Haboob

Yesterday we had a haboob move through the Phoenix area in late afternoon for about 10 minutes.  This is a photo that shows the dust storm that moved across the valley, and the clear sky above it.  For contrast, below is a photo of the same scene on a normal day.

(Please excuse the quality of the photos.  They are iPhone photos from my office window, and there is some reflection in the glass.)

We used to just call these dust storms, but a couple of years ago we had a couple of big dust storms, and now they are called haboobs.  It is one of the many words that we have now imported into English from Arabic, which is a good thing to increase our cultural diversity.

Photo: The day of record rainfall

This is what the weather looked like on Monday afternoon.  It is hard to imagine that this (iPhone) photo from my office was taken just a few hours after the Valley of the Sun received the most daily rainfall in its history.

Glorious sunshine, which is typical 90% of the daylight hours, with a few puffy clouds on the horizon beyond Piestewa Peak and the McDowell Mountains to the north, gave little indication that just a few hours earlier more than 3 inches of rain dell in just about 6 hours.

This week we have photos from a festival in Punahka, Bhutan, in the Himalayas posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Record Rainfall in Phoenix/Scottsdale

Yesterday morning in the span of about 6 hours the official rainfall at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport was 3.29 inches (8.36 cm), which broke an all time record for rainfall in one day.  Some rain gauges in the area, including Scottsdale, recorded more than 4 inches of rain.

Before yesterday we had received only 2.14 inches of rain all year.  The surface streets had so much rain runoff that both Interstate Highways that travel through the area were closed because the underpasses temporarily turned into small lakes.

This is a cell phone photo that my mother took of the Indian Bend Wash at Hayden and Chaparral Roads.  What you see here is the water hitting the base of a bridge.  Normally people walk and ride bicycles under this bridge.  The bridge yesterday morning acted like a dam, but it held, as Indian Bend Wash did its job in providing a green belt for the storm water to flow until it recedes.

I had intended to post a photo today that follows up on the odd photo I posted yesterday, but I will delay that for a couple of days.  Tomorrow I will show a photo of what the weather looked like yesterday afternoon, on the day of the all-time record rainfall in Phoenix/Scottsdale.

This week we have photos from a festival in Punahka, Bhutan, in the Himalayas posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Uprooted Palo Verde Tree

We are near the end of the monsoon season in the Arizona's Sonoran desert, and we get dramatic skies and, at times, strong lightning and thunderstorms.   The clouds build up in the late afternoon and sometimes, not often, we get sudden, but very brief, high winds and a short downpour.

We had one of those storms on Thursday evening.  These are photos of an overturned palo verde tree at the entrance to our subdivision.

As these photos show, desert trees often do not have tap roots.   After all, why would a root grow deep when the only water is near the surface?  This causes desert trees vulnerable to being blown over at times, even though they have spindly leaves that allow wind to blow through.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos from a festival in Punahka, Bhutan, in the Himalayas.

Photo: Haboob warning

We have not had any haboobs yets this monsoon season, which is just beginning.  We did have one haboob warning last week, but the wind outburst did not escalate into a haboob.

This is a photo from my office of a haboob as it moved across central Phoenix.  Fortunately, these are very rare, and the blow through in a few minutes.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos of the Great Synagogue of Budapest, Hungary.  It is a unique, amazing building.

Photo: Raindrops

Last weekend it rained in Phoenix/Scottsdale, which is so unusual that people welcome and enjoy the rain.

This is a photo of rain drops on the roof a car, with the reflection of a row of palm trees in the roof.  I will show the rest of the car tomorrow.

This week we have photos of Gibraltar posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Monsoon Clouds over the McDowell Mountains

The enormity of these monsoon clouds is revealed by the fact that barely visible beneath them like a ribbon across the horizon are the McDowell Mountains that frame Scottsdale.  The clouds

This is another (iPhone) photo of the monsoon clouds from last weekend.  We went to the top of the parking garage at Scottsdale Memorial Hospital to reach this vantage point.

This week we have photos of the wildlife and people of Tanzania posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Monsoon Clouds over Piestewa Peak

This is a view of one of the massive monsoon clouds that form in the afternoon during mid July until early September.  The days start clear, then billowing clouds form, soar, and occasionally condense into brief thunderstorms.

The size of these clouds is placed into perspective by the fact that the clouds dwarf Piestewa Peakin the center of the photo, and it is 1,175 feet (368 m) above the Valley floor.

This is an iPhone photo taken from our office in central Phoenix last weekend.

This week we have photos of the wildlife and people of Tanzania posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Dust Storm in Central Phoenix

I apologize for the poor quality of this iPhone photo through our office window, but it does illustrate the impact of last Friday's dust storm as the monsoon season arrived.  The visibility up Central Avenue from our office was reduced to about one mile (1.6 km).

Each summer we have very hot temperatures with very low humidity until the monsoon season arrives in mid July.  For the next 6 weeks the clouds and occasional rain will moderate the high temperatures somewhat, but the humidity will creep up a bit.

The skies can be dramatic during the monsoon season, with dust storms, large thunderheads, lightening,

This week we have photos of Tanzania posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Dust Storm across the Valley

This is an iPhone photo from our office on Friday.  The monsoon season has arrived in the Arizona desert.  The sky was clear most of the day, then mid afternoon a wall of dust moved across the Scottsdale-Phoenix area.  After about 30 minutes, the sky was clear again.

Usually we can see mountains 30 miles away, but visibility during the dust storm is reduced to less than one mile.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos from Tanzania, including a photo of a lioness peering above the grasses.

Photo: Snow in Scottsdale

We are now in the midst of the  summer heat in the Valley of the Sun.  It is over 100 degrees (38 C) nearly every day and some days is over 110 degrees (44 C).  It has not rained in about 60 days.

To help people feel cooler, I am showing a photo from a rare, freak snow that we had in Scottsdale last February.  This dusting of snow lasted for about 15 minutes on our patio.  We get a dusting of snow maybe once every 10 or 20 years.

This week we have photos of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Is this an accumulation of snow?

I don't think our recent snowfall counts as an accumulation of snow.  This photo shows how the snow gathered on top of the patio furniture around our swimming pool.

I think this is what people who live in  climates where they get snow would call a dusting, except the snow was very granular and icy and not powdery at all, as I will show in more detail.

This week we are showing photos of Nicaragua on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site, featuring the doorways of the Spanish Colonial old city of Grenada.

Photo: Snow on Camelback Mountain

It is hard to see, but in this photo there is a dusting of snow on the ground on Camelback Mountain.  This is a telephoto zoom show from our backyard, about 1.5 miles (2 km) away, and it was cloudy because it was snowing, so this is not crystal clear.  By the time the weather cleared, the snow was gone.

The cacti on the ridge line are probably experiencing their first snowfall, just as were nearly everyone who grew up in the Phoenix area.

This week we are showing photos of Nicaragua on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site, featuring the doorways of the Spanish Colonial old city of Grenada..

Photo: Snow falling with Camelback Mountain

Here's a photo you don't see very often.  Snow falling with Camelback Mountain in the background.  In fact,  in 10 years of living with a view of Camelback, I have never seen snow.

I was in such a state of disbelief at the sight of snow in Scottsdale that I asked someone from my office who was on the phone with me how to tell the difference between snow and hail, because we never get snow and I wasn't sure which it was.

She told me to go outside.  If it hurts, it's hail.  If it doesn't hurt, it's snow.  It was snow.

This week we are showing photos of Nicaragua on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site, featuring the doorways of the Spanish Colonial old city of Grenada..

Photo: It's snowing! It's snowing!

I was working at home on my computer on Wednesday when someone at my office sent out an email telling everyone to look out the window because it was snowing.  So  I rushed to my back yard, and it was indeed snowing.  If you look closely in this photo, you can see streaks of white comign down.

I called my mother, who lives only one mile (1.6 km), but she did not get any snow where she lives.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing some photos of Nicaragua for the first time, as Dave and I first went there about 6 weeks ago.  Our photos feature the doorways of the Spanish Colonial old city of Grenada.

Snow around the pool

Here is another photo of the snow that fell in Scottsdale on the day before yesterday.  It stuck to the cool deck around our swimming pool for a few minutes.

I ran outside without a coat to take photos real fast before it melted.  I have never seen snow on the ground at our house, and we have lived here for 10 years.

Usually we can see snow on a few of the mountain peaks near Scottsdale a couple of times each winter, but never snow in the Valley.

We are showing some more photos of Africa this week on our  Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Snow in Scottsdale!!

Yesterday was startlingly strange weather.  There was snow in Scottsdale!  That's right.  Snow!

Yesterday I had a meeting in the middle of the day.  It was 67 degrees (19 C.).  While I drove home, within about 30 minutes the temperature dropped to 47 degrees (8 C.).  A few minutes later it started to snow.

As you can see in this photo of my back yard, the snow actually stuck to the ground -- for about 10 minutes.

I am sure that all of the people out here on vacation at the swimming pools of the resorts and playing golf were quite stunned, as were we locals.  We see snow fall in the Valley may once every 10 years or so.  It is warm enough to have nice green grass, which provides an unusual contrast for bits of snow.

I said yesterday that I would show a different photo today, but I changed my plans due to this  bizarre weather event.

We are showing some more photos of Africa this week on our  Viva la Voyage travel photo site.