A large Canyon Area in the Sonoran Desert

Stunning view...........

That looks such a harsh environment but I bet you get some things growing there.

Milky, it is a stunning very dry view.

Hywel, there's desert flowers in the area and many Ocotillo plants.

It's wonderful how they survive.

Hywel:

Many desert plants survive the 122 degree F. / 51 degree C. heat by going dormant in Summer.

frying weather

too bad people didn't have a dormancy period...plants go dormant in extreme heat and extreme cold... Holy Moley! 122 degrees Fahrenheit??

Lori:

Yes, it's pretty extreme! It can, in some years get hotter than 122 degrees F. I remember the Summer of 2006 many parts of the desert got up to about 130 degrees F.. Here in eastern San Diego we had one day when we had a 132 degree F. heat index which was extremely rare. Many people and livestock died in California in this protracted heat-wave in July of 2006. It was absolutely horrible!

I can only imagine! they sound like oven temps!

Yes, it was getting pretty close.

Wonder what the ocean temps were? you are a few hundred miles north of the zone that hatches El Nino, right? Have you ever visited Central and South America? must be a plant hunters paradise...

Lori:

I've never been to Central or South America...I would love to go someday!

We are directly affected by "El Niño" ...however, we haven't had a strong one since 1997. The whole Pacific Ocean really warms up...and we generally have huge rain storms that effect the whole Western U.S.

In 2006 the ocean temps were higher than normal 81 to 83 degrees F/ 27 to 28.3 degrees C. which is very unusual for a non-El Niño year.

We actually are thousands of miles from where "El Niño" starts...which is off the coast of Peru.