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Archive for the ‘Weather’ Category

The difference between morning & night

Posted in Buildings, Churches, Travel & Tourism, Weather, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 25, 2012| 2 Comments »

Oh, what a beautiful morning it was!

Glowing red/orange African tulip tree blossoms in foreground, church domes and bell towers in background against, tops of mountains in distance, against blue sky with bands of fog.

What a difference 10 hours makes.

Red/orange African tulip tree blossoms in foreground, church domes and bell towers in background against gray sky

Moisture from Tropical Storm Isaac being drawn across Oaxaca.  That’s the way the rainy season goes!

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Room with a view

Posted in Buildings, Churches, Gardens, Weather, tagged , , , , , , , on July 4, 2012| 4 Comments »

Late yesterday afternoon; outdoor room (aka: my terrace) with a view.  Ahhhhh….

African Red-orange blossoms of African tulip tree in foreground, San Jose church bell towers, and cloud dotted blue sky in background.

And, despite the clouds above, this morning I can report, no rain for 36 hours!

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I felt the earth move…

Posted in Buildings, Nature & Science, Parks & Plazas, Weather, tagged , , , , on March 20, 2012| 4 Comments »

…under my feet.  Well, actually I didn’t feel the 7.4 terremoto (earthquake) about noon today.   I heard it!  I was walking up the Álcala and the windows on one of the university buildings started rattling and people began pouring into the streets, murmuring “un terremoto, un terremoto!”

People standing around in the Plaza de la Danza in front of the Palacio Municipal

The above photo was taken from above the Plaza de la Danza, outside the Palacio Municipal, about a half an hour after the initial shake and shortly before sirens went off and a 5.0 aftershock struck — which I also didn’t feel!

Representative of the Proteccíon Civil Municipal de Oaxaca in a yellow vest giving a press conference.

I continued on with my shopping and when I passed by the Palacio Municipal again, the media was all over the place, and more press conferences out on the sidewalk were being conducted.  The fellow above is from the Proteccíon Civil Municipal of Oaxaca.  The fellow below was speaking about the schools.

Video cameraman focused on man speaking.

Though there is concern for the rural villages closer to the epicenter, currently all is well in the city.   And one of the members of the municipal police force assured me the daughter of “my” president was fine.

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Thunder (and lightening) dome

Posted in Buildings, Weather, tagged , , , , , , on March 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Last night, if she is still in town, Malia got to experience one of Oaxaca’s dramatic rain storms.   The circulation of high pressure over the Southeast of the country, interacting with moisture from both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, resulted in a 1-2 hour (I lost track of time) torrential downpour and Mother Nature’s own spectacular sound and light show.

Dome of Templo de San José

Glowing Templo de San José last night, as sheets of rain bounced off the dome.

This was a welcome relief, as we are in the middle of the dry season, and my rooftop garden is extremely happy.  However, along with the usual flooding and sporadic power outages, newspapers are reporting 10 homes were damaged by the heavy winds and rain in Ocotlán and a Jacaranda tree fell on an unoccupied parked car in the city.

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Southern exposure

Posted in Nature & Science, Weather, tagged , , on February 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Sunset last night…

as it unfolded.

Sometimes, looking south is the best!

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Name that flag

Posted in Churches, Weather, tagged , , , on October 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Another brilliant blue sky day…

Purple, white, and red flag flying atop Santo Domingo

But where did that purple, white, and red flag on top of Santo Domingo de Guzmán come from???

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End of rainy season?

Posted in Neighborhoods, Weather, tagged , on October 21, 2011| 3 Comments »

Hmmm, no rain for a week, cool nights, and warm, clear blue-sky days.  Even concrete boxes beg for a photo…

Concrete boxy buildings against clear blue sky.
I’m thinking the rainy season has ended!

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Sept. comes in with a BANG

Posted in Gardens, Home, Weather, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday, the clouds gathered, the sky darkened, and about 5 PM…

And, yes, I did jump!

However, it’s no laughing matter for the farmers and folks who live near rivers.  Río Atoyac, which runs alongside the heart of the city and which one must cross to reach the airport, rapidly reached flood stage and breached its banks in several places (Noticias has video).  In addition, because the ground is already supersaturated, mudslides have already begun to occur in the mountains.

CONAGUA explains that the large area of atmospheric instability over the Gulf of Tehuantepec along with tropical depression 13 in the Gulf of Mexico (that’s the one threatening Louisiana), are the moisture-laden culprits.

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Lush life

Posted in Gardens, Weather, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Torrential rain by night; brilliant blue sky by day…

Garden god surrounded by succulents and cactus

This is the way the garden grows during the rainy season in Oaxaca.

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Storm clouds over Oaxaca

Posted in Weather, tagged , on August 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Where did the mountains go???

Dark sky over Oaxaca

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I’ll paint rainbows…

Posted in Nature & Science, Weather, tagged , , on July 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Intermittent rain again today; annoying and even a little depressing, until tonight…

Rainbow over Oaxaca

and from the far reaches of the brain, the John Sebastian song,  I’ll Paint Rainbows All Over Your Blues, came to mind… and I couldn’t help singing and smiling.

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Beach vacation dreaming…

Posted in Nature & Science, Weather, tagged , , , on June 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Gray gloom continues to hang over the San Francisco Bay Area and I’m dreaming of a beach vacation…

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Playa San Agustinillo on Oaxaca’s Pacific Coast, October 2009.

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Resurrection!

Posted in Weather, tagged , , on May 20, 2011| 2 Comments »

With a little help from its friends, the Indian Laurel has risen — albeit with a Marine-style haircut.Severely pruned Indian Laurel tree propped up with two cranes.

Let’s hope it can, indeed, be saved!

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And the tree came tumbling down…

Posted in Environment, Parks & Plazas, People, Science & Nature, Weather, tagged , , , , on May 18, 2011| 3 Comments »

Oaxaca has been trapped in a low pressure trough that, according to Conagua, stretches from Chihuahua to Oaxaca and is bringing moisture from both the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.  It’s made for dramatic sunsets!

Pink clouds against purplish-blue sky

And, for the past three nights it’s brought spectacular sound and light shows… lightning streaking across the night sky in a 360 degree circle around the city; the rumbling of thunder in the distance and loud cracks when it hits close to home; torrential downpours and hail, even though it’s 80 degrees F (what’s up with that?); and hurricane force winds.

It was all too much for one of the massive 130+ year old Indian Laurel trees on the Alameda…

Trunk of fallen tree

El Instituto Estatal de Protección Civil was on the job, roping off the surrounding area with yellow and red caution tape.

Yellow caution tape blocking off area around fallen tree

Workers gathered to receive their instructions,

Yellow jacketed workers in front of fallen tree

environmentalist and artist Francisco Verástegui was interviewed by TV Azteca Oaxaca,

Man being interviewed by Azteca TV about fallen tree

a rope was placed around one of the limbs,

Rope around fallen tree limb

chain saws revved-up, as scavengers went about their work gathering twigs and small branches…

Man with chain saw and woman gathering small branches of fallen tree

and a truckload of the precious firewood departed the Alameda with a youthful escort.

Truck carrying chopped wood from fallen tree departs Alameda with three boys following behind

According to today’s news, this laurel tree wasn’t the only victim of these storms; other fallen trees crushed cars, power went out, and flooding occurred.   However, as they say, “ojala,” no human casualties have been reported.

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Blue skies smilin’ at me

Posted in Weather, tagged , , , , on May 5, 2011| 1 Comment »

Today in Oaxaca…

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As Irving Berlin wrote, “Nothin’ but blue skies do I see.”

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