Summer Roadtrip- Mom & Son

The weather was REALLY scary at times. We would drive up a mountain and then the rain would start. The wind pushed us around. The rain blew sideways. I was even scared to pull over- it was like a 2000 foot drop. And the speed limit is around 75 on these mountains- crazy! I just put my hazards on and drove 30. We even saw an accident (after it happened) where a baby was in his car seat going into an ambulance and had blood on his face.

I'm not used to flash flooding and storms like this in NY. But, we're out of that area now- no rain in site- thank god.

The thing is, this is the normal weather pattern in the SW in July and August. Most of the rain that falls in Arizona and Nevada comes in the summer. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that these storms are out of the ordinary in terms of severe weather. There are lightning strikes right now in the vicinity of our office. Here is a fun site to watch evidence of the t-cells as they roll into town.... And here is the report I keep active at my work station, in case we need to shut down due to electrical storms.

Mark

I live on Washington's coast. Rain is so common that sun is a welcome relief, albeit usually for only brief respites. Yet I have never seen rain like I have encountered in Colorado and New Mexico. Blinding. Deluge. Scared the crap out of me, too, when I was driving in it. And I'm used to driving in rain and wind. But this was so much more intense than anything I had ever experienced.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist

The thing is, this is the normal weather pattern in the SW in July and August. Most of the rain that falls in Arizona and Nevada comes in the summer. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that these storms are out of the ordinary in terms of severe weather. There are lightning strikes right now in the vicinity of our office. Here is a fun site to watch evidence of the t-cells as they roll into town.... And here is the report I keep active at my work station, in case we need to shut down due to electrical storms.

Mark

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Mark,

The weather may be "normal" for NM & AZ, but I've never been there before. I'm used to East Coast weather. It's hard when you are driving. For example, I parked my car and went to lunch with my son. When we finished, we ran to the car (in the pouring rain) and half the parking lot was flooded. Thank goodness I didn't park in the wrong place. I didn't even think of checking my car after it was raining so hard- because it just doesn't flood like that in NY. If a parking lot floods at home they fix the problem and put in a drain or something. You just don't expect it.

Also- the mountains I'm used to driving are in NY and PA. They have wide shoulders and you can see what is coming (for the most part). The mountains out here have narrow roads and STEEP drop offs. Also, not used to rock slides. Holy cow- those huge boulders in CA were scary. I have to download the photos.

It's all a learning process. I drove through my first desert today. I also went through 3 or 4 border checks and didn't cross the border. What is up with that? Glad I didn't just buy a bunch of fruit for the ride.

I'm on a two month trip- and just drove from NY to SD last month. Right now I'm in Montana- making my way home.

I went thru VA- TN- Arkansas- Texas and then NM-AZ-CA.

best part- NEW MEXICO!

{comments removed as per Good Neighbor Policy policy}

I took the interstate- but parts of it was route 66. There was lots to see. I didn't get any pix because I was driving, but when I got to NM there were old buildings, cars, missions, churches, etc. on the side of the road and you can tell they were old. It was really neat. I could imagine people driving back in the 50's.

I have photos on my blog.

I just fell in love with New Mexico.

I could have posted 1000 photos!

Have a great trip-
Christine

I'm on a two month trip and my entry is gone. Did someone move it or delete it? I wanted to update the thread.

Thanks,
Kirby

Hi Kirby.

Your thread was here in tact, but it will get moved off the page by newer posts when it's left a while. When this happens you can either use the search button in the green bar and use your thread title or words/places that relate to your trip and the search engine will locate it or your User control panel by clicking on your user name in the top right hand corner of the screen. Once there use the following actions,

A] click on "Show all statistics" on the right hand side of page [in the mini statistics box]

B]Click on "find all threads"

C] You can now select your thread and post your update as normal and this will automatically send it to the top of the forum page

D] And to make it even easier -- your thread has now been "stuck" so it will always be on the first page of this Field Reports Forum until you are back at home

hi,

nice pictures. the one marked antcan5 where is that?