Even the simplest things about the desert can be strange.
Rain, for instance.
When you need rain the most, where you need it most, seems to be the place you find it least.
And sometimes it comes unusually close, but never arrives.
An eerie and frustrating example is the dry rain that can occur in the desert west, called “virga.”
In the distance, you will see the clouds form, then curtains of rain finally begin to fall. But the rain disappears in the middle of the sky, between cloud and land.
Leaving you high and dry. Or low and dry.
Virga actually does happen in other regions, and can involve snow as well as rain.
It’s a sight to see, watching the rain come down, but never land on land.
Desert Mysteries Weblog 