A short post about weather
The weather here in Beijing has been nothing short of absurd lately. Apparently this city had about two weeks of good weather during the beginning of this summer, but exactly three days after I arrived (three gorgeously warm and sunny days, as I recall) the weather decided it was having some maladjustment issues and has been acting strange ever since. The day is either sunny, humid, and insufferably hot -- like, in the 100s *F -- or overcast, even more humid (stepping outside is like being hit in the face with a warm sponge), and about to rain at any moment. Now, so far my favorite weather is of the second kind -- the sky is greyish-white, the air hazy, damp, and opressive, the weather overall warm and somewhat ominous but not too threatening -- until, that is, it starts pouring.
Yesterday, for instance, after walking to da ban ke at 8am under skies which were their usual hazy grey color, I was shocked to see that, just ten or fifteen minutes after starting class, the windows of our classroom were as dark as if it were 8pm, literally. Actually, maybe like 9 or 10pm. It was dark. A wind was whipping the trees, which appeared almost to move in slow motion through the thick, humid, air. The dark ashy greyness of the sky seemed palpable (actually, it probably was, in the form of air pollution), and within minutes thick, hard drops of water came pelting down from against the windows and ground. By the time we had our first morning break 45 minutes later, the outer terrace of our classroom was utterly flooded, the ground beneath our fourth-floor windows covered in uneven puddles of unknown depth thanks to Beijing's virtually nonexistant drainage system. Yet, by the time lunchtime rolled around just three hours later, the rain had let up to a moderate drizzle, and we picked our way through pond-like puddles back to the dormitory to change clothes and shoes.
By the next day (today) the sky had hardly a cloud within it, and the bright sunlight was nearly insufferable after about two minutes outside. Yet as I began typing this, although the day was still bright, it began raining rather hard again. And by now it has stopped, the sky still hazy and clouded as it makes up its mind about what to do next, the wind rustling the treetops below my window where a few birds have optimistically resumed their chirping after the sudden storm. What will happen next? Only the weather gods of Beijing know for sure. Actually, I have a feeling they don't know either.
posted by Kelly @ 4:43 下午
<< Home