It is Offical - the Monsoon is Here

It is official the summer monsoon has arrived and a little early to boot.  The Painted Pony Resort received its' first big rain, 1.27", and as a result the grasslands are greening up nicely.  Of course we had some rain on the evening of the 4th which is traditional.  The image shown below was taken day before the first big rain of the season in June.  With the traditional big monsoon cloud buildup over the Chiricahua Mountains a different kind of presentation was decided upon.  After the usual tweaking of input light levels and contrast the colors were inverted.  This resulted in Portal Peak and the Chiricahua Mountains becoming white, and in silhouette, while the clouds are purple tinged with black and all set in an orange sky.  For those familiar with the area the silhouette of the Chiricahuas should be immediately recognizable and as one local Biologist put it, Happy Biological New Year.

An inverted color image of monsoon clouds over the Chiricahua Mountains.
 

A crepe myrtle in bloom with monsoon showers in the background.