Yesterday afternoon about five o’clock the sky opened up and battered us with hailstones. Some were as big as marbles. The big ones sounded like gunshots on the patio overhang.

The rain followed, with swirling winds and thunder. Everything was drenched in half an hour. Our gutters overflowed. Sheets of water ran down the street.. Eddies formed in my driveway.

The storm ebbed and flowed in intensity for a couple of hours. By eight o’clock it was over. The sky still looked menacing, but that was it. I didn’t see a lot of lightning flashes despite hearing thunder throughout the event.

We are in a good location for summer thundershowers. This one was particularly ferocious. This morning, there’s plenty of evidence of a storm—leaves, twigs, and cones scattered about, plus mud, silt, and roof debris. But the ground is mostly dry and only small puddles are left.

In the desert, the rain comes all at once, and then it disappears. Maybe there’s more on the way this weekend: