Okay, I apologize for talking once more about the weather, but this has been one freaky monsoon season. Two days ago we had a freak storm in the morning, nothing terribly bad, but it *never* rains in the morning in the summer in AZ. Then, yesterday afternoon there was a freak downpour. It wasn't just regular pouring, it was if the thundercloud simply descended from the sky and splattered on the ground. It decided to do this just after I got in my car to run an errand. I got about a half mile before my windshield instantly fogged and I ran into a curb. The water became about 6 inches deep in this time. I managed to pull into a gas station, mainly on memory of where it was because I could see essentially nothing. I got out of the car and in about 5 seconds (I am not kidding) was completely soaked through. I bought a hot chocolate (it was about 60 degrees when it should be 120 degrees outside) and loitered around the gas station store with several other freaked out motorists.

I was stranded there for about 45 minutes before the rain settled to an ordinary pour and I gained the confidence to venture out to the flooded streets. It was slow going with a lot of stalled out cars and police trying to take care of it, as well as water up to the wheel wells. Intersections were particularly bad, for some reason the water pools there - so very scary to get through before the light changes. One Kmart parking lot I past was really bad, people where wading through it waste deep, which wasn't a smart idea since the storm sewers were backed up. A couple of miles out there had been no rain at all and the streets were dry.