As a native San Franciscan, I have lived a a good deal of my life in a "temperate" climate. That 7x7 mile peninsula tip has fairly predictable weather patterns. The city has it's micro climates and this is all just normal. Summers are usually filled with cold fog, Autumn usually has the best weather. Winters can vary but before this "climate change" rain was fairly normal.
To summize, a moderate climate with not to many variances. It's a BIG deal to have a thundershower and if it ever hails, people run outside like chicken little and scream the sky is falling!
Well I have moved to the country known for it's weather. In the bike racing world, Belgium is notorious for wind, rain, cold winters, hot summers etc. This California girl is about to enter a reality check.
It's not like I haven't lived outside of the Bay Area. I did spend a year in India and Nepal, 2 years in Auckland New Zealand and a few years near Carson City, Nevada. All of the places have more extreme climates but heck, that was some time ago!
Summer is certainly here. The past few weeks this country has seen some sweltering temperatures and everyone was begging for rain to cool things down. Finally There was a brilliant thunder shower and indeed, the temps dropped. Once again, that is all predictable but today? That was just weird!
It was sunny hot and I was out riding with a friend. He mentioned the weather forecast called for rain later, so I peered up to the sky and saw no rain clouds. "Hmmm, maybe the forecasters are as bad here as in the Bay Area" I'm thinking.
Well sure enough the dark clouds starting appearing. It was time to head back. We said our Goodbyes and took off in opposite directions. I was happy for that tailwind as I knew my time was running short.
Then it hit! About 1km from home, all of a sudden gale force wind came up and dirt was flying in my face and my bike started going sideways! Woah, time to put down the hammer. Just then the rain came pummeling down in buckets! THIS IS WEATHER! No prob, got back and for the next 30 minutes the apartment was shaking. Wind was blowing and the rain seemed torrential. Hahaha! Just like it began, out of nowhere it stopped. The sun came out and everything resumed to normal. Errr except for that speed limit sign in front of the building!
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