Episode this: As in the days of Noah

Weather is amazing. It is a powerful force we cannot control, yet we depend on it for life. Sometimes it is a helper, at other times an annoyance or hindrance; at once capable of either helping to build or of destroying livelihoods. It can be violent or gentle; it can make a place comfortable or barely habitable. Its changing nature makes it an ever-present, reliable source of commonality for the conversationally inept, and although there are certain patterns that one can observe, its unpredictable antics and endless variations elude the forecasting skills of even the most brilliant minds and sophisticated computer software. Despite all of these unknowns, however, two things about the weather are absolutely certain: a) that we all have to live in it, and b) we can’t help talking about it.

Growing up in Nebraska, I had plenty of opportunity to observe weather in most of its violence and beauty. Searing heat, devastating tornados, thirty degree temperature drops in a matter of hours, flash floods, droughts, bone-chilling winters, hail, wind, lightning, blizzards, and, more commonly, crystal clear blue skies. Really, I thought I’d seen it all.

Then I moved to Taiwan and became acquainted with tropical weather. And while on the whole the weather here lacks the moment to moment meteorological excitement that living in the Midwest provides, it nevertheless still manages to provide its own little challenges and weather wonders.

Like the last couple of days, for example, when the Chiayi area received what the natives call 大雨, literally “big rain.” That about describes it. Things started early Friday morning with thunder showers that managed to draw even me out of a most fitful slumber (I could have sworn that the bolt that woke me up actually hit the Practice Hotel…), and it’s been alternating between heavy drizzle and torrential downpour ever since. So in the past two days we have received over a foot and a half of rain, which is more than half of Nebraska’s average annual rainfall. This is blowing my little corn-fed mind. And it just keeps raining.

My mind keeps wanting to panic at all this water, but no one else seems too excited about it. The blasé attitude of most of the Taiwanese and the relatively quick drainage around here both seem to suggest that maybe this sort of thing has happened before. There has been some flooding on the roads, which is inconvenient to say the least, but to my knowledge nothing has washed out. Not too much else seems be affected, although we did get out of a half day of school yesterday. And I thought rain days were just for baseball players and construction workers…

Well, I just had to share that. I hope the weather is equally as interesting where you are.

Until next time,
I'm Peacefully and joyfully wearing my raincoat