Isn’t weather one of people’s favorite topics? It seems like initiating a conversation with asking about weather gives people extra comfort and time to actually think about what they really want to say without sounding too abrupt. And I don’t feel compelled to repudiate Seattle’s reputation as a “rainy city” anymore. If I enjoy living in a city, the weather really becomes secondary to how I feel. But this November Seattle did really well in qualifying as "rainy city."
It’s official. Seattle just broke the record it set in 1933 by dumping 15.37 inches (vs. 15.33) of rain in November alone. That, of course, reinforces its fame as “rainy city.” 15.37 inches of precipitation is a lot; in fact, that’s close to half of the average precipitation of 38 inches Seattle gets annually. That’s actually lower than New York, Houston and many other cities in the nation. Besides rain, we also had the first snow of this year in November! The snow put a break on the whole city – no school, working from home, fewer cars, being stuck in the snow.... The city is not prepared (nor was it built) to handle heavy snowfalls. Like San Francisco, Seattle has many hills. A couple of hills were closed to traffic. Kids were having a blast sliding down those hills. A merely few days, everybody felt the impact of the snow. And now all the thrill and shrill in welcoming and hating the snow is all gone with melted snow.
I’ve experienced winter in different time zones and different terrain. When I was just a little girl roaming around in the Gobi desert area, I loved snow. Rolling around in the snow, sliding one the ice, having snowball fights - there was just too much fun out in the cold and in the snow. As one becomes older and starts to take on more responsibilities, one becomes more sensitive to weather changes. As adult, we worry about commuting to work, we worry about how to look wholesome in cold weather, we worry about power outage, etc., weather also often becomes a convenient excuse for people to feel certain ways - happy or lousy.
I lived in Shanghai for over seven years. My memories of winter there are often associated with being extremely cold. Well, there was no heat in the dorm or classrooms during my four years in college. I remember being all bundled up and holding a palm-heater while studying in chilly classrooms and libraries. I brought thermos filled with hot water and drank tea as the night went on. If I had a choice to choose a university in the South, would I? No. I chose the school because that’s the city that I wanted to be in. Those cold winter days and nights are full of bitter sweet memories. Now that I’ve got heating all over the house. It’s hard to re-live that whole episode again.
Chicago’s winter can be brutally cold. Commuting on buses sucked. I can still vividly remember my feet numbing away under me standing in darkened and harden snow waiting and waiting. But mountain-biking in the snow was quite fun. Obviously, snow and having to work is not a good combo.
Michael and I traveled for about a month in the winter of 2004 in Europe. Our first stop was Copenhagen. Copenhagen’s winter is very precious – or shall I say – the daylight is precious. We woke up around 9:30 or 10ish and had breakfast and got ready to go and explore the city, it was already dusky. A couple hours into wandering around the city, we were already totally enveloped in dark sky lit up by glittering lights everywhere. Tivoli probably looked even more enticing on a winter night around the Christmas time. People were biking around. Although cold, a lot of them were dressed very fashionably and having fun. Maybe because the daylight is short, people have come up with more creative ways of enjoying the wintry darkness.
Seattle’s winter is predictably unpredictable. You know it’s probably going to be cloudy, maybe with a bit of drizzle from time to time. But you don’t know when you’ll get pouring rain or even flurry snow. The culprit of the unpredictable part is probably global warming which, according to reports, will make Seattle’s summer hotter and winter wetter. And on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Shanghai was just reported to have had the hottest autumn in 55 years. Is it time we do something about the global warming?
It’s official. Seattle just broke the record it set in 1933 by dumping 15.37 inches (vs. 15.33) of rain in November alone. That, of course, reinforces its fame as “rainy city.” 15.37 inches of precipitation is a lot; in fact, that’s close to half of the average precipitation of 38 inches Seattle gets annually. That’s actually lower than New York, Houston and many other cities in the nation. Besides rain, we also had the first snow of this year in November! The snow put a break on the whole city – no school, working from home, fewer cars, being stuck in the snow.... The city is not prepared (nor was it built) to handle heavy snowfalls. Like San Francisco, Seattle has many hills. A couple of hills were closed to traffic. Kids were having a blast sliding down those hills. A merely few days, everybody felt the impact of the snow. And now all the thrill and shrill in welcoming and hating the snow is all gone with melted snow.
I’ve experienced winter in different time zones and different terrain. When I was just a little girl roaming around in the Gobi desert area, I loved snow. Rolling around in the snow, sliding one the ice, having snowball fights - there was just too much fun out in the cold and in the snow. As one becomes older and starts to take on more responsibilities, one becomes more sensitive to weather changes. As adult, we worry about commuting to work, we worry about how to look wholesome in cold weather, we worry about power outage, etc., weather also often becomes a convenient excuse for people to feel certain ways - happy or lousy.
I lived in Shanghai for over seven years. My memories of winter there are often associated with being extremely cold. Well, there was no heat in the dorm or classrooms during my four years in college. I remember being all bundled up and holding a palm-heater while studying in chilly classrooms and libraries. I brought thermos filled with hot water and drank tea as the night went on. If I had a choice to choose a university in the South, would I? No. I chose the school because that’s the city that I wanted to be in. Those cold winter days and nights are full of bitter sweet memories. Now that I’ve got heating all over the house. It’s hard to re-live that whole episode again.
Chicago’s winter can be brutally cold. Commuting on buses sucked. I can still vividly remember my feet numbing away under me standing in darkened and harden snow waiting and waiting. But mountain-biking in the snow was quite fun. Obviously, snow and having to work is not a good combo.
Michael and I traveled for about a month in the winter of 2004 in Europe. Our first stop was Copenhagen. Copenhagen’s winter is very precious – or shall I say – the daylight is precious. We woke up around 9:30 or 10ish and had breakfast and got ready to go and explore the city, it was already dusky. A couple hours into wandering around the city, we were already totally enveloped in dark sky lit up by glittering lights everywhere. Tivoli probably looked even more enticing on a winter night around the Christmas time. People were biking around. Although cold, a lot of them were dressed very fashionably and having fun. Maybe because the daylight is short, people have come up with more creative ways of enjoying the wintry darkness.
Seattle’s winter is predictably unpredictable. You know it’s probably going to be cloudy, maybe with a bit of drizzle from time to time. But you don’t know when you’ll get pouring rain or even flurry snow. The culprit of the unpredictable part is probably global warming which, according to reports, will make Seattle’s summer hotter and winter wetter. And on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Shanghai was just reported to have had the hottest autumn in 55 years. Is it time we do something about the global warming?
