Navigation Pages

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Whether weather is worrisome

If you've ever taken the time to check weather reports for the Andean areas of Ecuador, you may think that we live in a bleak, cloudy, rainy place. Following this thought, you may wonder how so many expats have lost their minds and decided to make Ecuador their home, well the answer is fairly obvious.  The weather is actually quite good.



There's a funny little glitch in the weather reporting for Cuenca; most of the weather stations are located high up in the mountains, where clouds tend to drape across the peaks until they dump their moisture and evaporate. Accuweather, the most reliable source for weather here (a dubious claim), reflects it's name. (There's only half of the word accurate in it and that's about what they bat for correct weather.)

Yesterday, the website stated that it was 19 degrees (Celsius - embrace it people!) and the "real feel" is 22. Now, I went outside and it felt warmer due to the altitude; thinner air, closer to the sun etc etc etc. If I go out in the sun without sun screen, it will probably take less than half an hour to get sun burnt - and I mean radiation red.  If the usual trend stays, I expect clouds and possible showers sometime after 2:30 in the afternoon. What I find quite interesting (and somewhat bizarre) is taking in some rays on the rooftop while thunder rumbles in the distance and I'm surrounded by storm clouds, yet I sit in a lovely patch of sunlight that hovers over the city.

We went for a nice walk in the 19 degree weather, and when the wind vanished, which it frequently does, it was HOT; sweaty hot, but you can't knock the vitamin D. Later in the day, after lunch and a bit of Spanish study, the wind picked up again and it started clouding over. As predicted by around 2:30-3:00 the thunder started to roll and it rained. It was over and done by 5:00 at the latest. (I do love electrical storms! But do note that it doesn't always storm in the pm.)


So no, we don't live in a dreary place, we see the sun almost everyday and even if it's a bit cloudy, the weather (at this point) is warm. We usually only need jackets in the evenings, and not always. Coming from Vancouver, as we do, we're pretty good at discerning rain clouds, so we don't usually sweat the "should we take an umbrella" question. You'll quickly learn that as long as there's an overhang, you can usually wait out all but the very worst rain deluge and not lose too much time while doing it.

That's it for the weather. We'll see what it's like during the wet season, I'll probably have more to say about it then.

1 comment:

  1. The "Weather Network" is odd also, it is showing 28C feels like 37C sunny with cloudy periods for the current weather, but the forecast for the day is
    20C feels like 25 , cloudy with showers. You would think if they are making the forecast from the weather station in the mountains, the current temp would reflect the same place.

    Do you have your own thermometer to measure the outside temp ?

    ReplyDelete