And Now For The Weather

Funny thing, it’s humid here. Actually, it has been humid (read above 90%) all week. This isn’t all that surprising to me, as I have lived in some rather muggy environments prior to Hong Kong, most recently, Boston. This is different though. Boston’s average humidity peaks in September at 77%, but Hong Kong’s peak is a full 10% higher, and it achieves that figure four months out of the year (it has average humidity above 80% eight months out of the year). The humidity in Hong Kong runs your life.

The weather here has four seasons, just like many other parts of the world; only, Hong Kong has different parts. Season #1, Winter, lasts for about three months – Dec-Feb – and it mostly consists of cold, dry nights. Season #2 is the Rainy season. Beginning in March and continuing through May, the Rainy season is characterized by … do I even need to tell you? The 3^rd season is the Typhoon season, covering the middle months of the year. During this period, Hong Kong receives the highest amounts of rainfall, peaking in June and ever so gradually declining to August. To help you understand the daily realities of Typhoon season, locals advised us to stock up on DVD’s beforehand so you can stay busy when the sideways rain makes it unsafe to leave your apartment for a day or two. Season #4 is, well, Rainy season #2. It basically rains for another three months, until the typical wet weather system collapses out of breath and goes somewhere else in the Pacific to recuperate.

I mentioned the suggestion that we procure DVD’s to forestall homebound boredom, but that is not the end of the weather related advice we have received. A friend described the means she uses for fighting off Hong Kong’s absurd humidity. She and her husband started by putting dehumidifiers in every room of the house to keep the walls and upholstery from developing mildew. When the paper started growing stuff, she bought a scanner for important documents and gave up trying to save most physical copies. When they had guests over and noticed the extra bedding in the bottom of a drawer had grown things as well, they started putting charcoal packets in every drawer. Just for good measure, the two of them put charcoal in the closets too.

Reader, I’m not sure where you are as you read this, but chances are it is less humid than here. I tried to find places in the US rivaling Hong Kong’s humidity, but the highest was still 2% lower than Hong Kong’s annual average of 81.83%. I began by telling you this humidity was a funny thing. The funny part to me is that as I look out my window, two things catch my eye: first, the next hill from me is obstructed from view because of the fog/cloud/virga; second, some poor soul a floor above me is hanging a shirt out to dry.