[yaomtc]

The lack of clouds was relevant. The next few words you left out:

> promising no rain as it has for nearly a year

The area was experiencing a drought.

> And then, after 14 months without rain, the well that supplied their house went dry. For nine months the Coopers hauled water by the barrel for their household needs.

[lucb1e]

Sounds like those words could have stood on its own without the fluff about what the present weather is like at the time of writing.

[LastTrain]

It’s a human interest story not a shipping manifest.

[PedroBatista]

Cue the Simpsons meme gif “Old man yells at the lack of clouds”