Photo shows the beauty of an Arizona monsoon

Here in Phoenix, we are all familiar with the monsoons and dust storms that Arizona brings.

Sometimes, amid all the traffic, grime and complications the storms bring, we lose sight as to just how beautiful a massive desert storm can bring.

The man who took this photo on Wednesday from the roof of the Hotel Valley Ho, Andrew Pielage, had this to say about the moment he took this photo:

Last monsoon season the storms seemed to come in fast and furious, leaving a little rain and a thick layer of dust over the Valley and then it was over. But the monsoon storm last night was different. It reminded me of the type of monsoons that I would see growing up in Phoenix. The kind you could watch all night.

The wind started off innocently enough with a slight breeze around 7 p.m. Then in true monsoon fashion, you can always smell the rain hit the desert floor before it actually starts to rain at your location. You could hear the low rumble of the thunder and flashes of lightening in the distance. Then the wind started to gust and the rain came down lightly, off and on around 9 p.m. At 10 p.m. the thunder and lightning were cracking and booming in all four directions over my head and over the entire Phoenix area.

In the true and insane “I have to get a shot” kind of way I headed up the exposed rooftop deck of the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale around 11:30 p.m. There was a break in the rain so I knew I had to get a shot fast. Thirty terrifying minutes later, with the rain starting to come down in full force again, I managed to get the shot I had been waiting for.

As I was driving home, the full force of the monsoon was coming down and I got the all-to-familiar hair raising on my right forearm. I’m no expert but I think that means it’s going to be a great monsoon season for photographers!