A Rainy Day in Baja California Sur

By: Slade Ogletree
December 3, 2007

Usually when we talk about Baja weather we describe either the cloudless skies, balmy temperatures, and the perfect breezes we normally see or we’re discussing a major weather event like a hurricane, tropical storm, or a very strong north wind called a “norther”. That simply because that covers about 99% of the weather that we experience down here. This week, however, a rare weather event occurred here in Southern Baja; a rainy day! We had a couple of them, actually.

Rainstorms in northern latitudes with temperate climates they tend to be quite common, even tiresome in many areas, but here they are a rarity. This is a desert, folks. There were no watches or warnings, no scramble to buy groceries and water, and nobody stayed up all night monitoring where the center was. The clouds just lazily rolled in and by first light the docks were wet and I could hear the spatter of raindrops tapping on my boat’s cabin top. I have to admit that it was a relaxing sound and I slept soundly to that rhythm for several more hours.

La Paz on a rainy day takes on a whole new look. Sidewalks, normally bustling with daily shoppers are virtually deserted. The streets have puddles that soon become small lakes as the storm sewers struggle to flush themselves of leftover hurricane debris. Businesses rush to cover merchandise stored under leaky roofs. Auto Parts Stores are clogged with drivers needing new windshield wiper blades. In the process, several months’ worth of accumulated dust is gently washed away.

A grey and drizzling Thursday gave way to an even greyer Friday. The rain came and went throughout the afternoon. The rain never got too heavy; never even close to the “gully-washers” that we sometimes see with a summertime thundershower. If you’ve ever spent time in the Pacific North-west, you know exactly what I’m talking about…just add palm trees, cactus, and a little picante sauce.

While rare, rainy days are not totally unknown in Baja. Every fall and winter the Pineapple Express, blows warm moist air from the Equator, just south of Hawaii eastward toward North America. When that mixes with the cold dry air form the north it creates rain. This is what normally gives the California coast its wet weather at this time of year. When that mix gets pushed far enough south, we get the rain. It usually happens once or twice every year.

I remember when rains like this that happened a few years ago. A family of five, with 3 kids ranging in age from seven to twelve, was living at anchor here in the La Paz harbor on a 36 foot sailboat. That’s right, a rainy day and Mom, Dad, and 3 kids crammed into a small living space smaller than most kitchens. One of the “science projects” to keep the kids busy was to put a cup in the cockpit of the boat to measure the rainfall total. The kids then issued hourly reports of their findings on the VHF radio.

Baja’s weather is mostly sunny and warm (or hot), but we do get a small percentage of “less than perfect” days to round things out. It keeps our life interesting. There is another silver lining to those rain clouds as well; in about 2 weeks, regardless of its being December, the desert will again bloom with springtime brilliance. It is just another one of those things that makes Baja life so special. We are truly live in a land of contrasts.