SC - Surviving Estrella War

Sat Jan 27 16:34:31 PST 2001

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In a message dated 1/27/01 12:17:22 AM US Mountain Standard Time, 
stefan at texas.net writes:

> Aren't these a bit contradictory? How can it be "especially dry" and
> "rain at least one night"?
> 
> 

Not at all. Although to those who do not live in the Sonoran Desert may not 
realize it, the desert is generally surounded by mountains, which the Indians 
used to say, call the clouds into the basin. And these are not just any 
mountains, these are The Rockies. Desert can change temp overnight as much as 
70 degrees or better. During the day, due to desert growth, clear skies, and 
such, the temperature in winter can get upwards of 90degrees. With a low 
humidity rate, the dry heat can creep up on a person. People die here of Heat 
Prostration in the *winter* as well as dehydration because of lack of water 
intake. Ask any of the Mexican illegals that come across the border at night, 
and then experience the heat of the day trying to cross into Arizona for the 
United States *better way of life* dream they follow. They die from 
*exposure* people...and for good reason. At night, the weather can get nippy 
for someone dressed for the hot days. It can drop to freezing, and sometimes 
slightly below in winter here. But the coldest month of the year, in terms of 
freak snowstorms and icey rain, is April. We have had snow in April four 
times in my lifetime. And I mean *snow*...with snowbanks, crashed cars 
hitting trees that can't be seen, etc. Like the Pacific Rim snowstorms or 
those of Binghamton, New York. After all, those of us native pack rats (the 
Arizona term for *born* here) realize that the desert isn't called the desert 
because of lack of weather extremes, but because of lack of *water*. Which 
poses the second problem with cold weather that turns to wet weather or rain 
here. Acidic soil doesn't absorb fluid like wonderful loamy soil in the East 
and more wet climes. Consequently, it *runs*...it *floods*...it *pools*.  We 
may only get 9" of waterfall, but that 9" joins with another 9" from farther 
upstream and joins another, and quite literally can create the waterfall 
*wall of water* that sweeps cars away and deposits them miles later under 
much mud when the washes fill or flow.... And what could have been a dry wash 
only an hour ago runs bank to bank with no warning. People die every year 
here, visiting, because they don't realize that barrier signs saying not to 
cross during wet or rainy weather means that you may die if you try.Because 
we have high mountains that call in the rain, we pick up every Pacific Coast 
cloudcover that is meandering by. So weather at night, with rain, can drop 
drastically into the teens or single digits. Cold, folks. No matter how you 
look at it. And there is never any warning, really, for us whether the 
weather clouds of this morning that are idling by so beautifully among all 
that blue will burn off into a clear night sky or jumble up into a kicker of 
a storm.   If the day is 70 degrees and cloudy, you can guess it might be 
warm...in the low 60s or high 50s, if it doesn't rain at night and we keep 
the cloud cover. If the clouds go bye-bye, it might be in the 40s or high 30s 
on toward morning. But if it rains, its gonna get flat out cold. And stay 
that way until about 11am the next day.

As an example, today is January 27, 2001. Clouds came in last night about 
10pm. This morning at 8am we had rain. By noon, we had sleet and hail and 
temperatures, with wind, that felt icey and hovered about 38 degrees. Its now 
5pm. The clouds are clearing off.  We have about an hour of light left. So, 
temp may go up a few degrees and stabilize overnight. Tonight, we may be 
about 30 or so at lowest...about 4am or so. But if no more clouds come back, 
then tomorrow, after noon, we will be about 65-75 degrees. Maybe as high as 
80 degrees by 4pm.

All this boils down to coming with clothes that can be layered on or taken 
off as the case may be for the Estrella War. Skirts can be doubled or 
trippled at night, and many of us have been known to wear long johns under 
our Tudors. I have a cloak that doubles as a blanket, with thermal lining. I 
have shirts I can wear over thermal undershirts and you can't tell. And I 
have boots that are very dry and comfy....

And I drink plenty of fluids.

Larearsi de MacAvoy Morgan
Tucson, Arizona

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<HTML><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff">In a message dated 1/27/01 12:17:22 AM US Mountain Standard Time, 
 stefan at texas.net writes:
 
 
 <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Aren't these a bit contradictory? How can it be "especially dry" and
 "rain at least one night"?
 
 </BLOCKQUOTE>
 
 Not at all. Although to those who do not live in the Sonoran Desert may not 
 realize it, the desert is generally surounded by mountains, which the Indians 
 used to say, call the clouds into the basin. And these are not just any 
 mountains, these are The Rockies. Desert can change temp overnight as much as 
 70 degrees or better. During the day, due to desert growth, clear skies, and 
 such, the temperature in winter can get upwards of 90degrees. With a low 
 humidity rate, the dry heat can creep up on a person. People die here of Heat 
 Prostration in the *winter* as well as dehydration because of lack of water 
 intake. Ask any of the Mexican illegals that come across the border at night, 
 and then experience the heat of the day trying to cross into Arizona for the 
 United States *better way of life* dream they follow. They die from 
 *exposure* people...and for good reason. At night, the weather can get nippy 
 for someone dressed for the hot days. It can drop to freezing, and sometimes 
 slightly below in winter here. But the coldest month of the year, in terms of 
 freak snowstorms and icey rain, is April. We have had snow in April four 
 times in my lifetime. And I mean *snow*...with snowbanks, crashed cars 
 hitting trees that can't be seen, etc. Like the Pacific Rim snowstorms or 
 those of Binghamton, New York. After all, those of us native pack rats (the 
 Arizona term for *born* here) realize that the desert isn't called the desert 
 because of lack of weather extremes, but because of lack of *water*. Which 
 poses the second problem with cold weather that turns to wet weather or rain 
 here. Acidic soil doesn't absorb fluid like wonderful loamy soil in the East 
 and more wet climes. Consequently, it *runs*...it *floods*...it *pools*.  We 
 may only get 9" of waterfall, but that 9" joins with another 9" from farther 
 upstream and joins another, and quite literally can create the waterfall 
 *wall of water* that sweeps cars away and deposits them miles later under 
 much mud when the washes fill or flow.... And what could have been a dry wash 
 only an hour ago runs bank to bank with no warning. People die every year 
 here, visiting, because they don't realize that barrier signs saying not to 
 cross during wet or rainy weather means that you may die if you try.Because 
 we have high mountains that call in the rain, we pick up every Pacific Coast 
 cloudcover that is meandering by. So weather at night, with rain, can drop 
 drastically into the teens or single digits. Cold, folks. No matter how you 
 look at it. And there is never any warning, really, for us whether the 
 weather clouds of this morning that are idling by so beautifully among all 
 that blue will burn off into a clear night sky or jumble up into a kicker of 
 a storm.   If the day is 70 degrees and cloudy, you can guess it might be 
 warm...in the low 60s or high 50s, if it doesn't rain at night and we keep 
 the cloud cover. If the clouds go bye-bye, it might be in the 40s or high 30s 
 on toward morning. But if it rains, its gonna get flat out cold. And stay 
 that way until about 11am the next day.
 
 As an example, today is January 27, 2001. Clouds came in last night about 
 10pm. This morning at 8am we had rain. By noon, we had sleet and hail and 
 temperatures, with wind, that felt icey and hovered about 38 degrees. Its now 
 5pm. The clouds are clearing off.  We have about an hour of light left. So, 
 temp may go up a few degrees and stabilize overnight. Tonight, we may be 
 about 30 or so at lowest...about 4am or so. But if no more clouds come back, 
 then tomorrow, after noon, we will be about 65-75 degrees. Maybe as high as 
 80 degrees by 4pm.
 
 All this boils down to coming with clothes that can be layered on or taken 
 off as the case may be for the Estrella War. Skirts can be doubled or 
 trippled at night, and many of us have been known to wear long johns under 
 our Tudors. I have a cloak that doubles as a blanket, with thermal lining. I 
 have shirts I can wear over thermal undershirts and you can't tell. And I 
 have boots that are very dry and comfy....
 
 And I drink plenty of fluids.
 
 Larearsi de MacAvoy Morgan
 Tucson, Arizona</HTML>

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