Climate Change

I haven't dedicated a whole lot of time recently to talking about the climate here (with the notable exception of Kenting). There are several meanings for this. First, it's been pretty uniformly hot and humid. Second, I've more or less acclimated to that.

But now that October's hit, I've noticed some wonderful changes around here that are absolutely worth taking note of.

1.) It gets cooler at night now. This is actually a really, really big deal. When I first got here, it was absolutely bizarre to me that stepping outside at 10pm was no different, temperature-wise, than stepping outside at 1pm. The only thing that that happened at night was that it got dark.

After a while I got used to this, just as I've gotten used to most things here: I just took it as a given that you never ever needed even a sweater, even if you were running out for a late dinner at 9pm. Still, my Northwest-bred self didn't fully like the monotony of perma-heat.

Which is why I got so excited when I realized yesterday that this was no longer the case! Driving back from Chinese class, I realized that the temperature had dropped a good 10 degrees (F) or so. I also remembered that, that morning, I'd felt nice and cool on my drive to school, and connected the dots. Fall is coming at last! Of course, by "Fall" I mean "still feels like a Northwest summer," but anything a little cooler is okay with me. Maybe if we give it a few months I might even need a jacket while scootering--and then my life here will be complete. :)

2.) With the cool has come a new cleanliness in the air. Now I'll be honest, I don't know if that's completely coincidental or if there's a real connection, but in the past few cooler days, the air has been infinitely more clear than it has been up until now. I gauge the air quality on my ride back from my schools by looking at the city skyline--at the 85 Sky Tower, to be more specific. On bad days (of which there have been quite a few in the past month), I can't see higher than about the 12th floor. On most days, I can see to the top, but the top ten or twenty floors are hazy at best.

Here's what it looked like today:

It was so gorgeous I had to pull over and take a picture

And closer up, at a stop light.

If this is a side-effect of the slightly cooler weather, I'm all for it!

So, to sum up: Fall here apparently means Oregon summer temperatures and Seattle February clear skies. And I'm loving it.