Winter in the tropics
Five out of six experts agree:
No, we are far from this very impressive picture of a fully-snowed UK seen from the sky that everybody and their dog must have seen by now. Still, in Mexico City we are experiencing the traditional one-or-two-weeks-a-year where it is genuinely cold. And, very strange being this Winter (the rainy season is Summer around here, January should be dry!) we have rain all day long.
The Ajusco mountain is around 15Km south from my home, and it is the closest of the giants that surround our valley. Yesterday I managed to get some peeks at it behind the very thick layer of clouds we have. Ajusco looks really gorgeous all snowed, maybe down to the 3400m line (while the city’s main area is at 2300m). This picture was not taken this year, we have snow in Ajusco almost every year (although very seldom as much as this time):
(last photo is not current, we have not yet had a clear day to take a picture of our Ajusco yet this year)
How does it feel? Well, I live in Coyoacán, in the flat area of the valley. Remember that houses here are not built to endure extreme temperatures (and this week is what we call extreme, of course ;-) ). According to Yahoo! Weather:
And while the difference appears to be small, what about Magdalena Contreras, ~200m higher, where many people dear to me live (and have even a window pending to be installed)?
People say this cold wave is the strongest in 120 years, since records are being taken. Every year people get excited, expecting that this time we will get snow. This has only happened once in at least a century, in 1966 AFAIR. I do not think this year to be atypical.
Still, I have a reputation for being insensible to cold weather. Everybody wears heavy jackets while I still go to work with my usual long-sleeved shirt and that’s it. But the last two days, I have been using jacket and scarf…
But, of course, I don’t look as gratious or cute as my cats :-}
Attachments
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Comments
Anonymous 2010-01-09 23:45:41
hi! the link to the “very
hi! the link to the “very impressive picture of a fully-snowed UK seen from the sky” is wrong… I would like to see that!
gwolf 2010-01-10 08:32:54
Oops, sorry
Fixed the link — And repeated it here, for your convenience! NASA Terra satellite image of a fully-snowed UK.
gwolf 2010-01-10 08:37:01
It’s just getting used to it…
Anyway, my cats seem to love that spot for enjoying cold days. I just passed by, and they are almost in the exact same position today :)
gwolf 2010-01-10 08:41:50
Low thermic sensation
Yes, I read that the temperature was actually much higher than what was felt - My favorite temperature is ~10°C. Yesterday’s temperature (and it seems it will also be so today) was distributed a bit oddly: The highest temperature was reached by ~10AM, and as it went cloudier and rainier, temperature went down. The average was close to the minimum.
And yes, even if we only reached the freezing point for an instant, the high parts of the city will surely be below zero for sizable amounts of time. No, I don’t think we will have snow, that’s almost impossible. But we are facing a cold winter, and most constructions (and people!) here are not made for that.
mirabilos 2010-01-10 04:18:21
Hey, 17-21° that’s almost
Hey, 17-21° that’s almost summer weather! Our neighbour’s cats are currently outside at -1°C tops during the day…
mirabilos 2010-01-11 03:21:14
Nice cats anyway ;) It just
Nice cats anyway ;)
It just started and stopped snowing again this morning, and our neighbour’s cats are still outside (they always are during the day). I guess they’re all-weather cats ☺
PS: Annoying captcha indeed. I like undeadly.org’s better. It even works with Lynx.
Paul Johnson 2010-01-10 02:40:38
Not so cold
C’mon…unless those numbers are in °F, we’re talking jeans and a windbreaker type weather. Don’t get your hopes up about snow, even here in Portland we’ve never had snow flurries on a day warmer than 6°C (and obviously never had actual, stick-to-the-ground snow in weather above 0°).
Also, your captcha isn’t kind to real humans with working eyeballs….
Tuareg 2010-02-05 11:50:27
Nice cats!
Hey!
That’s a nice pic of your cats… just as I remember them… bigs… very bigs…
:-)