On southern New Mexico's Jornada del Muerto, however, July is a notoriously still month. Elsewhere, wind patterns are less predictable, although several weeks can pass without enough wind to pump sufficient water. When the wind blows, it often picks up soil, sandblasting crops. The tattered leaves of wind damage resemble the early stages of many diseases, leading Natalie Goldberg, Extension plant pathologist, to ask about wind when she receives plant specimens. Though it's the bane of vegetables, wind can be a friend to fruit.
Some growers head off freezes by stirring up artificial gusts with giant propellers.
This inverts the layers of cold and warm air, protecting the trees in bloom. Wind is a powerful force in New Mexico, not only for pumping water but also for shaping the weather. Though it may seem a stretch to talk about a monsoon in the desert, the term actually has more to do with wind than rain, Blood says. But monsoon does not refer to rain per se, but to the reversal of flow that brings an increase in moisture. When the wind changes direction during monsoon season, it sets up a southerly flow of moist air, which condenses over land and falls as rain.