David Paich and Jeff Porcaro of the ‘80s supergroup Toto penned the oft-misquoted lyric of their most enduring pop-rock hit, exclaiming “I bless the rains down in Africa.”
This week, forestry officials and would-be outdoors enthusiasts alike are blessing the rains down in Arizona as a wetter-then-usual monsoon season has, at least for now, blunted an out-of-control wildfire crisis across the state.
The first real storms of the season brought relief in the form of torrential downpours on Thursday and Friday of last week, with parts of Phoenix and Scottsdale getting inches of rain, rivers of stormwater runoff and daytime high temperatures around 83 degrees, according to multiple reports.
