Distant lightning bolts during a summer monsoon storm in Southwest Arizona on Interstate 10 with car headlights streaking by.
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JEFF SMITH / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
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Lightning bolts illuminate the night with flashes that contrast dramatically against a black stormy sky. The silhouette of a hill is accentuated by the intertwined dance of lightning streaming down from the clouds during this desert Southwest monsoon storm in Tucson, Arizona. Nearby cars streaming by leave a streaking blur of light from their headlights. Mother Nature puts on a show of light that can be considered an act of God. Electrical currents from lightning bolts travel from the earth to the sky through invisible pathways that trickle down from the storm clouds above. Once one of these invisible pathways makes contact with the charge building in the ground, the invisible pathways are lit up with the energy flowing back to the cloud from the ground. These summer storms are called Monsoon because of the southerly winds bringing moisture up from the mountains in Mexico This moisture interacts with the mountains in the Arizona desert and summer temperature over 100 degrees. These conditions are prime for developing intense thunderstorms. The powerful force of these storms can be frightening and thrilling. These conditions exist during the "Monsoon Season" in the desert southwest generally from early July to late August and early September. These rains are what rejuvenate the dry desert and keep it a living, green desert. Some other lightning storms occur in the desert with the El Nino and La Nina systems. Also search Jeff Smith and Lightningsmiths for my other weather related images.