Pitter Patter on my windowsill

Not exactly! More like a constant pounding swishhhh and roar as the heavens growl and explode! Some say the skies are falling; they literally are doing just that. Last year we suffered from the lack of rain triggers, that is, no lowered pressure spikes to raise the water that is almost always present in the atmosphere here in Southeast Texas, from the Gulf of Mexico. Now the soil is saturated, and the moisture is abundant in the atmosphere, AND we are consistently getting low pressure spikes carried in by the jet stream. We clap our hands. No need for further rain dances. Take our feathers off and just enjoy, like the natives did in this place decades ago. No one has complained (yet) that I have heard. Lack of rain is scary. Folks around here would rather have their outdoor activities interrupted by these almost forgotten sounds than worry whether their plants and trees were going to die, or watching helplessly while the trees were starved by thirst. Then too, they worried about their home foundations in the worse drought ever recorded in this part of Texas. Pitter patter... swishhhhh ...boom ..... yeah for nature coming back! Goodbye drought, hello to nature.

Rain Rain come again another day

A FULL Panther Creek after the rain

In The Woodlands Texas, we had some substantial rain this morning!!! Finally we have a real drencher, one to fill up the lake, to fill up the creeks and river, to replenish the ponds and reservoir and still have enough left over to filter down to underground reservoirs. Sure, we have had several one-inch rains after the scorching summer, but this one is definitively different. It is a drought breaker. Some places in Montgomery County received as much as 5 inches of rain. Such a general rain throughout the county that makes it so great! Here in The Woodlands, I recorded more than two inches and observed water runoff that I have not seen for over a year.

Typical backyard - saturated earth

Typical runoff - as designed to reach street drains

Paradox of drought quenched by huge quantity of rain in the middle of winter

Fall beauty remains at hand much later than usual after the worse drought on record. Here it is near the middle of January and we can still enjoy the beauty of the Fall, and this is like a warm fall rain, not like a cold wintry drizzle, which is the norm for this time of year. So the creek is flooding as the tree smiles in its splendor.