Sultry Summer Nights: Ignite Your Passions Blog Hop (August 22-29)

SULTRY SUMMER NIGHTS: 

IGNITE YOUR PASSIONS BLOG HOP (AUGUST 22-29) 

First things first: The Rules...

1) HAVE FUN!!!

2) INVITE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS!!! SPREAD THE WORD!!!

3) THIS TOUR STARTS: Monday, August 22, (Arizona Time)  THIS TOUR ENDS: Monday, August 29, at Midnight (Arizona Time) Winners will be drawn and posted August 30th! ***

4) MEET AND MINGLE WITH ALL THE AUTHORS! EXPERIENCE A NEW PARTY DESTINATION AT EVERY STOP! PARTICIPATE IN EVERY BLOG CONTEST AND BE ENTERED FOR CHANCES TO WIN MULTIPLE PRIZES! EVERY BLOG VISITED IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO WIN!!

5) PARTICIPATION AT ALL BLOGS IS RECOMMENDED, BUT NOT REQUIRED. REMEMBER, THE MORE BLOGS YOU HOP, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING PRIZES. EVERY AUTHOR IS WAITING TO MEET AND INTERACT WITH YOU, SO PLEASE BE SURE TO SHOW EVERY AUTHOR SOME LOVE!

6) DID I MENTION TO HAVE FUN? WHOO! HOO!! HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOO!

***Authors have full discretion to choose an alternate winner in the event any winner fails to claim their prize(s) within 72 hours of their name being posted or after notification of win, whichever comes first.  Anyone who participates in this blog hop tour is subject to these rules***

 Now to the FUN stuff...

There is nothing more sultry than an 

Arizona Monsoon.

 

The term monsoon comes from the Arabic word mawsim, which means "season". So to call the monsoons "the monsoon season" is completely redundant. 

In North America, our monsoon starts in late June and can go until mid September. Yes, we're still expecting storms for a couple more weeks.

The greatest thing about a monsoon storm is the swiftness with which the temperature drops, the humidity rises, and the lightning strikes.

Back when I was working at the local television station, 

every summer evening we prepared for 

the possibility of an upcoming storm. 

The chopper was always sent into the air. 

Usually the pilot navigated the skyline over to the East Valley 
where a dust storm would pop up 
and move through the entire metro Phoenix area.  

This photo was taken in 2003 over Ahwatukee, Arizona

Reporters, photographers, and live trucks 

were sent out in various directions, 

all in search of the crazy weather 

that always accompanied the storms. 

My job kept me back at the station 

where we watched the incoming footage, 

editing the best stuff to share with the people at home. 

For the most part we stayed dry, 

but more than once the weather knocked out our power. 

Back-up generators did not operate air-conditioning, 

which meant we were dry, but we were hot!  

(and not in a sexy kinda way ;)

One particular storm stands out in my memory. 

An insane wind blew through the small town 

of Surprise, Arizona, taking with it the roof of a school. 

Some thought it might have been a tornado, but it was ultimately determined that it was only a microburst. 

The "simple explanation" offered on Wikipedia for microburst is:

In the case of a wet microburst, the atmosphere is warm and humid in the lower levels and dry aloft. As a result, when thunderstorms develop, heavy rain is produced but some of the rain evaporates in the drier air aloft. As a result the air aloft is cooled thereby causing it to sink and spread out rapidly as it hits the ground. The result can be both strong damaging winds and heavy rainfall occurring in the same area. Wet downbursts can be identified visually by such features as a shelf cloud, while on radar they sometimes produce bow echoes. In the case of a dry microburst, the atmosphere is warm but dry in the lower levels and moist aloft. Thus when showers and thunderstorms develop, most of the rain evaporates before reaching the ground.

My terminology is:

"Holy crap! The wind was so strong, it ripped the roof off a school!" 

Working the monsoons in a newsroom 
also taught me the term "Haboob". 

Yes, it's a funny term. 

Yes, it made us all laugh. 
Well, all of us except for the overly serious meteorologist. 
(Don't even think of calling him a weatherman!) 

Haboobs are really cool. 

One second the sky is blue. 
The next ... it's a rolling brown cloud. 

Basically the wind gets kicked up. A downdraft picks up dust and 
debris from the ground and whips it into the air.
The cycle continues until it appears to be a wall of yuck 
moving in an all-consuming wave.

A few weeks ago a huge Haboob 
struck the east side of the Phoenix metro area. 

This picture was taken by Pictowrit.

In the newsroom, during a storm 
we would carefully label each tape 

coming in so that the morning crew 

could find the footage they were looking for. 

A couple years later took me to the morning show

and that was even harder, if you ask me. 
(Besides getting up before the butt crack of dawn!)

Yes, we usually always had the a/c back on. 

And yes, all the tapes were carefully logged and labeled, 

but we also had the aftermath video to contend with.

On the morning show our crews reported 
from the scene of where a power pole had snapped 
and hundreds (or thousands) were without power. 
Or where a tree had fallen into a house. 
Or where a storm drain had gotten plugged 
and flooded an entire neighborhood.

I love the Arizona Moonsoon storms. 

Their majestic power is truly something to behold! 

We get a glimpse of meteorologist Molly Mae Milligan 
in the KHB newsroom in IN IT TO WIN IT.  

Molly's happily-ever-after is still to come,
but you can meet Grayson Pierce and Jane Alexander today.

Back Cover Text:

Strike One

The girl once known as ‘Plain Jane’ Alexander is now the woman who makes men stop and take notice of her long legs and voluptuous feminine curves. Fifteen years ago she drove away from her small town determined to never look back … and to hate Grayson Pierce forever.

Strike Two      

Grayson Pierce is a baseball playing, fast car driving, loose woman dating, expensive liquor drinking jerk. He’s also the guy that ripped Jane’s heart out and beat it with a meat cleaver in front of their entire high school.

Strike Three

When fate—and an offer for an exclusive interview—bring Jane home, she finds that some things aren’t as they appear. And Grayson proves that he is In It To Win It; her trust, her heart, and a World Series title.   

I am Morgan Kearns; former journalist, current author. 
Fade to Black, In It to Win It, and 
The Seduction of Damian (The Gossip of Mysterious Lane #1) 
are my available titles. 



***

to enter my Sultry CONTEST:

1) Follow Morgan's Musings

2) Become a friend on Facebook or join my Fanpage

3) Join me on Twitter, follow my tweets

4) Become a fan on Goodreads

5) Make sure to comment here with your email address, so I can contact you if you're the winner! 

my Passionate PRIZES:

Three lucky winners will receive a digital copy of In It To Win It.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you had a good time!

Happy Reading!

Keep hopping on the BLOG HOP!