Climatology

Calm after the storm


I've probably mentioned the rain a few times in this blog but rain is such an essential part of the experience here I thought I'd dedicate a whole entry to it. Plus, I think I'm gonna take a climatology course this semester so I should probably start getting used to talking about weather...

In short, August was a climatological nightmare. It rained 29 out of 31 days, and the last 10 days of the month it just dumped on us non-stop. September, on the other hand, has been incredible. We’ve had a few soggy days but the sun has made quite a few extended stays as well. Everyone's spirits are up.

So what's this rain really like? Let’s look at a few U.S. city average yearly rainfall statistics, just for reference. (Thanks wikipedia)

Burlington, Vt: 34.6 inches
Seattle, Washington 37.1 inches
Washington DC: 39.1 inches

Ok, so what about Valdivia????

106.4 inches. 9 feet of rain each year. On average, the amount of rain that falls in Valdivia during June and July is more than what falls in Seattle in one entire year.

I really shouldn’t be trashing Valdivia for its excess of liquid precipitation, though. All the locals I’ve talked to have told me this was the most insane August they’ve ever experienced (my Chilean family has lived here almost 40 years and can’t remember a rainier August). And three times Seattle’s annual rainfall isn’t really THAT much. At least we’re not talking Indian monsoon rain or Amazon jungle quantities of rain here. I was reading the other day that some town in India gets 470 inches (39 feet) of rain per year while parts of Colombia get 450+ inches of rain as well. And at least all these rainy days make it a lot easier to enjoy and take advantage of the sunny ones...

Anyway, here's my message to all of you people enjoying life in the U.S. or in other significantly drier locales: appreciate your beautiful weather, because somewhere in the world, someone is getting absolutely soaked right now.