December 2, 2019
The holiday season always catches Southern Arizona residents by surprise. In October we are just starting to enjoy temps reliably not in the triple digits. We’re still wearing shorts and basking in balmy warm sunshine while much of the country is getting its first dusting of snow, if not a blizzard or two. By Thanksgiving we might get our first frost, and then suddenly Christmas is upon us and we are not emotionally ready for the transition!
My favorite trees, the cottonwoods, seem to share this attitude. They cling to their fall foliage well into December or even January. Finally a winter windstorm will blow the last clinging leaves away, but by early February their crowns start to shimmer green as new leaves sprout, months before any other native tree species.
But as desert dwellers we treasure the rare moisture that the winter storms bring. Wildflowers germinate, forecasting a colorful spring. The usually dry riverbeds begin to flow, fed first by the rain and then maintained with snowmelt from the mountains. Cacti and deep-rooted mesquite store up enough water to get them through the dry, hot summer to come.
Most of the images in this collection were taken last New Year’s Day. A winter storm had blanketed the Tucson valley with heavy clouds. It was a gloomy grey day and the mountains were hidden away from view. I had a new 400mm prime lens I was itching to try out. I kept peering out the windows, hoping for a ray of sunshine. Finally the clouds began to lift just as the sun started to set, briefly lighting up the newly snow-covered peaks with shades of rose and magenta before nightfall turned all to grey again.
Click to view this week’s featured gallery Desert In Winter. This is a secret gallery, visible only by following this link, that I am sharing especially for my readers and supporters.
