Beep! Beep! Beep! Where is that noise coming from? It sounded like the noise you hear on the radio when they are testing the emergency broadcast system. It went off while I talked on the phone with my mother, and as I traced the noise, realized it came from our weather radio. I read the script rolling across the screen – “Flash Flood Warning in effect until 8:03 p.m.”
The clouds rolled in early this morning and the coolish weather threatened rain most of the day. But around 5 p.m., the rain started to fall at a moderate rate. Apparently, bigger thunderstorms headed this way, right over the burn scar from last summer.
The double-edged sword of wildfire is poses a threat both immediately but also for years afterwards. With the burn scar ravaged of trees and plants, leaving just bare mineral soil, the area is at risk for flash flooding for up to 3-4 years after a fire has come through. It doesn’t take a lot to cause flash flooding either, because there is little to absorb the rain as it runs down the hillside.
When last year’s Cold Springs Wildfire blew up, at one point, it went all the way down the hillside to the road. That are can send water running across the road, and even 6-12 inches of water can start sweep away an automobile.
Still, I’m relishing the rain falling tonight. Any day it rains is a good day in summer. It’s a day that I don’t have to feel fearful about a fire starting. The clouds descend so they hang in the valleys between the hills north of our house — wisps of fog suspended in mid air. The dark cool air makes our little log home feel even more snug an cozy.
The added bonus of our rainfall is a better night’s sleep. Sniffling with watery eyes plagues me during pine pollen season. The rain will wash away a lot of the pollen, allowing easier breathing for the first time in weeks. And the cool temperatures tonight will make for a much better night’s sleep.
Somehow weather like this makes me appreciate our mountain home even more. The sound of rain pattering on the skylight, the puddles forming in our driveway make me appreciate being warm and dry in our house. It feels like the perfect night to hunker down with a cup of tea, a good book and blanket on the couch.
So in the words of the old Eddie Rabbitt song:
Well I love a rainy night; I love a rainy night.
I love to hear the thunder;
watch the lightning when I lights up the sky.
You know it makes me feel good.
