Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Let's talk about the weather

People seem to all agree that the weather in Xalapa is ideal so far as temperature. I have heard opinions about the humidity, but I cannot understand the complaint. It must be a personal thing. I do have one pair of shoes in my closet that has some signs of mildew, and I must dry them out and find a way to overcome this problem. None of my clothes or other items are indicating a mildew problem. When I go out for a walk, the humidity is not at all oppressive like down on the coast. The reason for the mild humidity and temperature is commonly attributed to our 4500 foot elevation.

Friends I talked to in Mazatlan tried to argue me out of living here because of the rain. This is a cloud forest climate after all. The fact is sometimes during the summer the rain comes down in blinding torrents. On the other hand the weather is really very predictable. Sort of reminds me of the song in the musical Camelot.

The rain may never fall till after sundown
By eight the morning fog must disappear
In short, there's simply not a more congenial spot
For happy ever-aftering than here in Camelot

Actually, the rain doesn't usually fall until later in the afternoon, but sometimes like the song says, it holds off until after dark. Which is all the better to observe the lightning that frequently accompanies strong rain storms.

Another weather condition is fog, but I have not experienced much of that. I think this happens during the winter so we will get a chance to observe this before long. MSN, Accuweather, and The Weather Underground all have comprehensive information about Xalapa weather. When making web searches be aware that there are many towns bearing the name Xalapa. Specify Veracruz-llave or just Veracruz. The modern spelling is Jalapa.