We are well into the monsoon season and it’s been a spotty and generally disappointing monsoon thus far. June was its usually hot and dry normal. July brought some good rain at our location but also more very hot weather. August was more heat, with daytime temperatures in the highest 90s and low triple digits, and dry thunderstorms at best, with a few intense winds. Rainstorms have been around us, but mostly on higher terrain and dissipate to virga and wind by the time they reach the Rio Grande Valley proper. Nighttime lows have been unusually warm as well, mostly in the mid-70’s this has been a challenging gardening year, with failure to set fruit and challenges from bugs and other pests in add to heat and wind. September again with a very warm start, yesterday reaching 100 at our house. Last night’s rain has brought us to about 1/3 of an inch of precipitation for the month. The desert is what I call hanging on. July’s green grasses have browned out, but creosote leaves have remained fairly bright. Only a few miles north of us though they’re much more stressed. A trip to the top of the Magdalena mountains yesterday revealed how scattered the rains have been, as you can see from the top patches of relatively green desert below and nearby brow areas that clearly missed out on the rains. This coming week may begin a wet spell that should be more general than what we have seen thus far.