The Moonson Cometh

If Quartzsite is the winter RV capitol of the known world, you might ask: “What happens to the RVers in summer?” Yes, there really are RVers in summer in Quartzsite, but they cope with the monsoon. Put away your visions of Bali Hai, the monsoon over the Sonora Desert is wee bit different than those of the South Pacific.

First, it’s really “The Monsoon,” not “The Monsoon Season.” Our English word, monsoon, comes from mausim, an Arabic word meaning, “A season.” In the late spring, the jet stream over North America works its way farther north, taking the high pressure (that which makes our winters so coveted) with it. As the jet travels north, lower pressures become the norm for the Southwest. The action of the late spring and summer sun heat up the land mass, reduce make the air less dense, contributing to even more of a low pressure situation.

In spring, the low pressure system isn’t much of a problem–the winds at that time pull in largely from the west. The temperatures in Quartzsite begin to rise, and the natives fire up their evaporative coolers, locally known as “swamp coolers.” These ingenious machines are nothing more than a big air blower that suck outdoor air over a wet pad, and blasted the humidified air into homes or RVs. While May and early June outside temperatures may soar into the 110 degree plus range, a swamp cooler can keep the inside of the house easily in the low 70s. Non-locals are amazed to see windows and doors left open despite the high outside heat, but the swamp cooler has to have someplace to put its heavily moisturized air load–so outside it goes.

But then the shift comes. The jet stream travels even farther north, and the prevailing winds shift to a more southerly direction–and low and behold, moisture is pulled off the Gulf of Mexico and blasted over the desert lands. Outside humidity rises from almost zero percent to the teens and twenties. Swamp coolers suddenly lose their effectiveness, and the only resort from the heat is closing up the rig and turning on the air conditioner. The A/C unit not only cools, but pulls the humidity out of the air, making inside dwelling tolerable.

The weather provides a bit of entertainment, too. You can be sure there’ll be plenty of thunderstorm activity. Big thunder boomers, accompanied by spectacular lightening are not uncommon. The troubling side affect is that the local electric utility struggles to keep up with power outages. Having a backup generator on your rig is a good idea, as when the power blinks out, it’s often out for a couple of hours, sometimes even longer. And the rain? Yes, it does rain in Quartzsite, and over a third of it hits the ground from July through September. The photo here is LaPosa South after a September cloudburst.

A sidebar to the “weather activity” as the TV folks like to call it, is the game some Desert Rats play called, “What was that, that just blew by?” Tumbleweeds, brush, grocery store bags, and anything else not tied down commonly gets carried along in the prevailing winds, stopping when caught in cactus or barbed wire fence. One local swore that his cat flew past time in a particularly stiff breeze. . .

Those who make it through the whole season can apply for the illustrious “Desert Rat Merit Badge.” Desert rats learn to get up EARLY in the morning to perform outside work–preferably long before 7:00 a.m. The Mexican siesta habit just becomes natural, and light eating several times a day, along with copious quantities of your favorite beverage are the chief survival tactics.

Do many RVers stay in Quartzsite and earn that badge? A few. However, most that do are the ones that are here because they can’t get away. The rig’s broke down, don’t have gas money, or by some peculiarity, they have a job in Quartzsite: Care-taking a fallow RV park, working in a truck stop, or writing blogs to remind the rest of you that for several months, it really is “a dry heat.” Give me 115 and zip humidity, I’ll get ‘er done. Let the wet part of the monsoon arrive and it’s time for chips, cerveza, and a soft mattress at 3:00.