THREE DAYS BEFORE THE FLOOD

When people discover that I live in Nevada the majority seem to believe that the state is one giant desert. And that's a fairly accurate assessment except for the fact that a large portion of Nevada consists of high desert, the difference being that high desert is subject to temperature extremes of heat and cold not present at lower elevations. (During a couple of winters in the early nineties our area experienced winter temps of -22 for three nights straight.) My home is nestled in a mountainous area where the landscape is replete with thick juniper, pine, and cedar forests. These sturdy evergreens are subject to long periods of arid conditions, and the needles sometimes become so dry that they fall with the slightest touch. The high desert receives a meager amount of snow during a normal winter season but will occasionally get more than what's considered normal. Mix that with an abnormal January warm front that for three days delivers warm rain and you have a recipe for the so-called perfect storm. Those conditions existed in early January 2005, and the result was a 100 year flood. This scene depicts the slow-melting process that eventually caused a lot of problems. (15" x 22") No longer in my collection.