Morning Rain in the Desert

I woke up last week to the sound of raindrops on my home's tile roof. A pretty unusual event, in the desert. Commonplace, in the Hoosier state where I've awakened more times than any other state in the Union. When I first moved to Phoenix, I believed the BS that the Bureau of Tourism spouted: "The average high in Greater Phoenix is 85 degrees and with more than 325 days of sunshine per year". In January of this year, I began marking my calendar on cloudy and rainy days. 11 months in, and there's already been 51 days of clouds and rain. Yeah, there's no climate change occurring, nah. So in my investigation, I looked up NOAA data, and found their standards are at the other end of the spectrum from the Tourism guys, down at 211 days of sun a year?? US Census data supports the Tourism claim.

Regardless, it is a relaxing, soothing, almost zen-like experience now, in my corner of the world, to wake up to the sound of rain on the roof. Something I never had considered previously, in Indiana, or South Carolina, or elsewhere.