August 14, 2006

Rain, rain, go away!

La Ceiba gets something like three meters of rain a year. Maybe more. I don't think anyone really keeps track of it. And where we live, I guess because we are closer to the mountains, we often get rain when they don't in town. I know that in December 2005 we received more than 20 inches in four days. I had a 5 inch plastic rain gauge and it overflowed every day.

Since then, Chloe the rottweiler decided it would make a nice snack. I need another one! A big one. I've been searching the internet, and do you know that no matter how large they are, almost all rain gauges only measure 5 or 6 inches of rain. I have an idea to make one, an attractive one of glass and iron (non-snack materials) that would measure 12 or more inches. Kind of like this without the copper. But like most of my ideas, it may be another year or so before I get around to it. I should do it now, though, before the real rainy season starts.

In town, an hour of rain can, and often does, flood some streets to knee level − hip level after a few hours of heavy rain. Our house is on the highest street in the colonia and our property and the areas around us have good drainage, so we never have to worry about flooding, thank goodness! We only have to worry about rain coming in the windows.

For some reason I don't understand, rain usually comes after 4 p.m. During the dry season, we rarely get more than a sprinkle during the day. Even during the rainy season, it is more apt to rain in the late afternoon or evening, although it can rain for days on end. The past two months, we generally have received at least one good heavy rain and several smaller rainstorms a week. We've only had to water the yard a couple of weeks in May. It seems an unusual amount of rain to me but maybe it is only because we have been painting the outside of the house and have noticed the rain more.


When this little mountain in the center....










begins to look like this....








.... we know that rain is imminent. This is a picture of an average rain coming off the roof. I feel selfish with so much rain (during the dry season yet!) so give me your location and I'll send it to you.
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