Weather Report

When something happens on time around here, it's worth noting. Officially, the dry season began here on Bioko island on the first of November. And to our surprise, it pretty much did. Some of us were having our doubts back in October, though, as a 60% chance of rain would be included in every day's forecast. And normally, it did rain at least once a day.

But then November got here and it all changed, not exactly overnight but it was at least more or less on the first when things started changing. And it's not that it never rains now; it just rains noticeably less. And you can actually even see a few brown leaves on some of the plátano trees that are everywhere.

But there are other noticeable signs that the dry season is upon us now. The dark clouds still come and go, but the rain just doesn't fall from them nearly as often or as much. And then there's now suddenly a breeze where before there hadn't been one before. The one constant has been the high, high humidity, which must just be more of a jungle thing than a weather thing. What I had never really felt before, though, was the breeze with air this heavy. It feels sort of like I'd imagine it would feel to have one of those big heavy, felt theater curtains blowing against you. In a hot theater. With a hot fan blowing. It's a different sensation.

And the weather forecast looks very different now than it used to. The temperature range is no longer the very predictable 73 to 88 that it used to be. It's now looking like it'll be a predictable 80-84 range, with the "comfort level" hovering somewhere up in the 90s. I think maybe "heat index" might be the better term to use. Today, for whatever the reason, it's warmer than usual, with a current temperature of 86 and a comfort level of 99. (Ugh, I'm really looking forward to that afternoon jog...) And it's overcast. And it did rain some earlier today, so we'll just have to call this one an exception to the norm.

Not exactly what they'd call fruitcake weather in New England -- but what the heck, we are in the tropics!