The 2021 southern Arizona monsoon season has come and gone; and it left a mark. The season is thought of as bringing rain and wind between July 4 and Labor Day. It’s when Tucson gets most of its yearly rainfall. The past several monsoon seasons gave us much less rain than usual; the desert suffered as a consequence. Cacti hunkered down but survived. Other flora, particularly the agave and yucca plants, suffered in the extreme heat of Tucson summers and many wilted and died. This was all in the context of the drought which has stressed the West for several years.
Which brings us back to the 2021 monsoon. It is said to have been the third rainiest in history. It was nothing like the devastating rain produced by hurricane and tropical storm Ida but it was a lot of water for us. Usually dry washes became small rivers which deposited the loose topsoil on our driveway, and the water saturated the desert soil. But the most striking effect was on the local flora: cacti enlarged and sprouted additional arms, agaves bulked up, all trees (palo verdes, acacias, and mesquites) quickly put out new growth and brittle bushes—generally considered a weed— sprouted everywhere in our yard. The moisture was needed so I have no complaint; however, it is going to take some time to do the work necessary to have the desert landscape that is our yard back in shape.
The unexpectedly severe monsoon rains, like the extreme recent hurricanes, do remind that nature is in charge and climate change guarantees that things will never again be the same.
