It was like living in the 1930’s. Or maybe Lawrence of Arabia. Last evening a storm rode into town atop a ferocious wave of wind and dust. It’s the third such storm in two years. They appear with bands of wind-stripped clouds far transcending the normal –but still ominous– mammatus clouds of more usual cumulo-nimbus.
This storm, like the previous one only two weeks ago, had a wall of wheat-field dust and 70 mph winds as its advance scouts. Then a sudden down-pour, just sufficient to clean off the dust that it had spread on cars, pickups, houses, horses, and cows. Then stillness.
The temperature dropped from 93 to 73 in about three minutes.
But unlike most “cold-front” storms, this on brought only temporary respite from the heat. Today the temperatures will climb back into the high 80s. Tomorrow the 90s.
Tuesday night more storms are forecast.
Is this the new climate? Thunderstorms that are dust-storms in disguise? Or dust-storms that pose as thunder-storm cells? The seasonal transition from summer to fall, from hot to cool, seems difficult this year. Change is never easy. In a climate-challlenged time, it may be more difficult than ever.