It happened so fast. At 2:45pm Saturday it was 36°C (96.8°F), sunny and hot. Pablo was teaching a class and in the pool. I looked at the sky and saw clouds in the distance so I went to the computer to check the weather satellites and the cloud cover looked dense. I went upstairs to rescue the laundry before the rain, and saw big black clouds marching toward us. As I collected our clothes the wind picked up. It picked up the mats, the balls, and the pool toys and flew them around the patio. It tossed big tree branches into the back yard.
Then the rains came. By 2:55pm it was 25°C (77°F). The temperature had dropped over 20°F in just ten minutes. It poured down hard, sideways…directly into the living room, bypassing the door’s double rain guards, gushing in at the corners of the door creating a lake in two rooms. It rained hard for about half an hour, accompanied by sharp lightning and earth rattling thunder. The rain lightened up but it continued to rain steadily for at least an hour. It’s the longest hardest rain we’ve experienced this year. The streets were flooded, as usual. It was the first time the entire back yard became a swimming pool. I’ll admit we have one trouble spot in the yard where rainwater collects for a while after a heavy rain, but the ground was saturated yesterday and the water had NO place to go. The swimming pool is nearly full to the brim. I would venture to say we received nearly four inches of rain in less than an hour.
At 4pm the 24 hour temperature low was recorded at 21.5°C (70.7°F). This is a typical low temperature for us IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. Not in the middle of the afternoon. The rainy season, adrenaline fodder.
Then the rains came. By 2:55pm it was 25°C (77°F). The temperature had dropped over 20°F in just ten minutes. It poured down hard, sideways…directly into the living room, bypassing the door’s double rain guards, gushing in at the corners of the door creating a lake in two rooms. It rained hard for about half an hour, accompanied by sharp lightning and earth rattling thunder. The rain lightened up but it continued to rain steadily for at least an hour. It’s the longest hardest rain we’ve experienced this year. The streets were flooded, as usual. It was the first time the entire back yard became a swimming pool. I’ll admit we have one trouble spot in the yard where rainwater collects for a while after a heavy rain, but the ground was saturated yesterday and the water had NO place to go. The swimming pool is nearly full to the brim. I would venture to say we received nearly four inches of rain in less than an hour.
At 4pm the 24 hour temperature low was recorded at 21.5°C (70.7°F). This is a typical low temperature for us IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. Not in the middle of the afternoon. The rainy season, adrenaline fodder.
3 comments:
I hate rains like that. Scary stuff. Adrenaline fodder indeed! Being that our horizon is 26 miles away, we usually have plenty of warning of what is coming. I pulled up the satellite Saturday also and thought, "oh oh. Merida is in for trouble." Guess I was right!
Wow, amazing storm, I bet you were shivering in the chill!
When it rains hard here I can hardly tear myself away from watching it, and love to see it rushing towards the drains.
Are you still cool?
I am with Nancy on this one, I have to find a good place to watch every minute. I love a good storm...with limitations of course! I am not wishing hurricanes on anyone. But we live in the tropics and it is healthy to enjoy a refreshing although potentially life-zapping tropical downpour.
Am I still cool? Nancy, I have always been 'cool'.......just kidding. In my personal opinion this summer is not as hot as my first two years in Mérida.
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