African Rain

African Rain

In southern Chad the rainy season is from May to July, but this year it’s late. It’s already June and no rain.  The sun is so hot that it burns away the clouds and sends the temperature above a 100 degrees F.  It’s in the late afternoon when clouds appear on the eastern horizon and soon sheet lightning turns the cloud tops a bright white.   The wind begins to blow, first from the south, then shifting to the west. Sand is blown everywhere and soon the atmosphere has a reddish-brown tint.  You can’t get away from it, it’s in the air.  The thunderheads begin a slow march to the west, toward us.  The once blue sky is blotted out by dark, ominous clouds and the thunder gets louder and louder.  Lightning flashes overhead and it begins to rain.  A light rain soon becomes a downpour and then as quickly as it began, it stops.  Not much water for a parched land that hasn’t seen rain for months.  But it’s a start. The air is cooler and no longer filled with sand.  The rainy season has begun.