A miraculous monsoonal rain

Earlier today my sister sent me a screen shot of 80% chance for rain here at 5:30 PM today. I watched the radar and didn't see any activity in S Brewster Co, so around 5:30 I sent her a text, jokingly saying it must just be pouring at the oasis by now. She said it looked promising. Shortly later she said it was raining. I checked the radar and sure enough, a storm was there. An hour or so later communications got murky. First her internet went down, then the electricity. She said she got .8" and the creek was running. That pretty much meant my tanks were full and running over down the creek. I hated to come down with no electricity or internet, but couldn't resist.

When I got to the Terlingua Ranch area things didn't look like they'd gotten much rain. Very few puddles anywhere and no arroyos running or showing evidence of having run. I figured my sister exaggerated, and was preparing myself for disappointment. Probably only a trickle down our arroyo for a short time. As I rounded a curve and spied the arroyo, it was raging. I barely made it through. Wow! All the rain fell on us and south of us I guess. I had come from the north.

At my place I got a whopping 1.6" Two hours after the rain and tanks were still running over. It was 9 PM, getting dark but my camera gathered enough light for these photos.

Stucco tank

Big concrete tank

Dragonfly pond

Arroyo leading to soapberry thicket. I couldn't get down it to
photograph the thicket. Have to wait until the water subsides.

 Tomorrow I'll take better photos. I'll have to slave away for days to get the new tank filled, then the stucco tank patched, then refilled, but it'll be worth it to have the oasis secure for the foreseeable future. I'm going to be more frugal with water and gradually let some things go to get things more sustainable, so hopefully, I won't ever have a water shortage again like this year.

The storm caused an electrical outage. When the electricity came back on part of my house doesn't have electricity. Maybe a bad breaker. But minor price to pay for all this wonderful water.

Soon great dragonflies will show up. And no damage was done to the road at all. Doesn't get much better than that!