Sunday, July 29, 2012
Seattle has a bad reputation for being a bit grey because it seems like it rains for 9 months every year. By the time June rolls around, everyone is pretty sick of it and we suffer through what is known as June Gloom, knowing that something similar to what we see in books with the title "Summer" really will make its appearance at some point in the near future...usually on July 5th. From then through the end of August, maybe a week or two into September, the sun shines, the sky is the bluest blue you've ever seen and people are out and about in droves, wearing their rarely-used shorts, enjoying the nice weather. One can see many, many chalky, white legs roaming the streets and neighborhoods of Seattle during summer.
In reality, Seattle doesn't get all that much rain, as in downpours. It is grey and drizzles a lot. Some days it does rain, but it doesn't usually go all out with a frog-strangler. Yes, we occasionally have a thunder storm, but they are so infrequent that they generate a lot of discussion when they do occur. "Wow! Did you hear the thunder last night and see the lightning? The lightning flashes woke me up!" Once several years ago we had over 1,000 lightning strikes in one night and it made the front page of the paper! There was a large color picture of the Space Needle with lightning flashing above it and that's all anyone could talk about for days.
https://www.google.com/
But usually, mist, drizzle, drip, drip, grey, watch the moss grow. That's Seattle.
The Costa Ricans could teach Seattle a lot about rain. They have aguaceras (down pours)...frequently, as in daily. I have yet to see drizzle or mist. It's either raining or not. Thunder and lightning? Yep, there's a lot of that, too. It started raining Friday evening and really has not stopped. In fact, it's pouring right now as I type this.
I am beginning to understand the 2-season concept now. Winter - rainy season. Summer - dry season.
On Friday, Pauline, the French student who lives here, escaped from the rain for a trip to the Carribbean coast at Puerto Viejo near the Panamanian border. Usually it doesn't rain so much at the beach. It's hot, dry, and sunny, so many of the students head for the beaches over the weekend. Not only did it rain while she was there, but the bus had a hard time getting back. A four or five hour bus ride turned into a 22 hour nightmare. Mud slides blocked the road in many places and she said it was hard to tell where the road was and where the river was!
I think the young man selling toothbrushes on the bus the other day should consider selling sombrillas (umbrellas).
Send us some rain please. Everything is brown here.
ReplyDeleteEverything is wet here. :( I would love to send some heavy, fat, rain clouds your way!
DeleteOur summer has been CRAP! We havent had much sun after July 5th. Not much rain tho, just the typical cool cloudy gray day. Today was a high of 61 and we couldnt convince ariana to wear a short sleeve shirt. She said but its cold and rainy outside and wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt. Glad we dont get as many downpours as what you are getting.
ReplyDeleteYea, that's what happens in Seattle when we get our good weather early. Remember how nice it was almost the entire month of May? We had at least 6 weekends in a row of warm sunny weather. In hindsight, we realize THAT was our summer this year.
DeleteIt has been a little chilly hear, too. I wore long pants Saturday, yesterday and today. I only brought 2 pair thinking I'd be in capris all the time.
Sorry, I meant to say "here," not "hear."
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