SUNDAY POST: PLAINS

RAIN ON THE PLAINS

I live in Pennsylvania, known for its hills and mountains.  So I had to travel to Arizona to see some really flat land that was visible for miles and miles.  The below photos were taken while traveling across an Indian reservation in Cameron, Arizona.

In the middle of our drive the weather took on a dramatic change and in the distance I saw this amazing scene.

Our driver told us what we were witnessing was known as a “Virga”.  Virga (aka fallstreak, fall-stripe) are generally streaks of rain or snow appearing to hang under a cloud or tapering down from the cloud base, descending and evaporating before reaching the ground.

So when Eliza Doolittle of My Fair Lady said, “the rain on the plains,” was this what she was speaking about?

The above photos were taken through the side window of our van while traveling across the Indian reservation in Cameron, Arizona.

The last photo shows what is called a “mesa.”

A mesa (Spanish and Portuguese for table) is the American English term for tableland, an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape.

The term mesa is used throughout the United States to describe a flat-topped mountain or hill. In Spanish such a landform is more usually known as a meseta.

See more entries to Jakesprinter’s challenge at Sunday Post: Plains.

BE ENCOURAGES! BE BLESSED!

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