Whacky Weather
The rainy season (a.k.a. the Monsoon Season) in Korea usually lasts for two or three weeks around the end of June and the beginning of July. Last month, after a couple sunny days following a couple of very wet weeks, I made the confident assertion to a friend in another country that Korea's monsoon season was finished this year. Was I ever wrong.
All of the typhoons sweeping around Japan and elsewhere in the Pacific have sent an onslaught of rain throughout July and most of August. But it's been very unpredictable. Rainy seasons are very predictable -- lots of rain most of the time. But since the real rainy season ended, this faux rainy season has been quite erratic. Cloudless sunny skies suddenly disappear and release a downpour for two minutes, followed by more sun, followed a bit later by a two hour deluge, followed by more sun... It was so whacked that I couldn't rely on the current state of the sky any time I left the house. It might be sunny when I stepped out of the door, but could be raining ten minutes later when I arrived at the bus stop.
There have been two side effects to all of this rain, one positive and one negative. August in Korea is generally hot, hot, hot. It's my least favorite month here, despite my birthday falling in the middle of it. This year, though, the rain has helped to keep the temperature down. I can't recall ever having been so cool in August since I've been here.
On the down side, the humidity has been through the roof. Korea tends to be moderately humid. I sweat profusely even in a normal summer, but for the past couple of weeks I've found myself literally dripping sweat just from casually walking to the bus stop. This isn't midday, but at six in the morning and even in the evening after the sun has gone down. Every time I've stepped outside I've looked like someone splashed a bucket of water on me, even when it's not raining.
Thankfully, it seems things are calming down now. Yesterday morning, I awoke to an autumn-like temperature, complete with a nice, cool breeze. Things warmed up during the day, but nothing unbearable, before cooling off again in the evening. Repeat today, so far. And the humidity has been bearable. The weather widget on my Google home page says we have 70% humidity in Seoul today, which sounds normal for this time of year. More rain is predicted for early next week, but I'm also hearing that the temperature will drop quite a bit soon after. That doesn't normally happen until mid- to late-September. Korea tends to have a very brief autumn before jumping right in to winter.
Now I wonder what's in store for us this winter.