Clouds

So far, so good.  We made it through the 4th of July with no new fires in southern Utah.  Perhaps it was the flashing signs on every highway advertising a statewide fireworks ban accompanied by the threat of a $5,000 fine.  Or, perhaps it was the cloud cover.  On Wednesday afternoon a monsoonal flow came in from Arizona with wall to wall cloud cover and relative humidities of 26% (instead of the 6% we've had for weeks).  When we got up this morning the streets were damp.

(I'm not sure if we can call it "rain," but there must have been a brief drizzle.  For me, "rain" means at least two things:  First, it has to settle the dust; and second, it has to actually hit the ground.  It wasn't dusty this morning, but the ground under our trees was dry.  There wasn't enough falling from the sky to drip off the leaves.  So, I'm not sure we actually received "rain.")

In any case, the higher humidities and break from the sun were good enough for the Shingle Fire.  And, in our euphoria, we even thought we'd go for a hike.  Unfortunately, by the time we got out there, the sun was back.  We walked about half a mile up Noah's Ark and then decided that it was too hot.  How about some more monsoons?