Typical winter weather in Yucatan
This year winter fell on a Thursday. . . that was yesterday.
My writers’ group met indoors because as Rainie, our hostess said: “This sub-80 degree weather has caused the patio to take a chill.”
Marianne, another member of the group has company from the REAL frozen north. At first she worried that they’d be disappointed with the weather. After all, they have come here to thaw-out. But she relaxed when she remembered that only rarely has she been asked for extra blankets. “They’ll be hot, they always are,” she decided.
In Yucatan we have 6 – 7 months of very hot humid weather. So by the end of October, we’re ready! We want that cooler drier air! And that tenth month of 2012 showed promise. Yes it did. But the heat kicked in again and the rest of the “winter” has been warmer than usual. Then yesterday, a heavy rain fell about 7 pm and the temperatures fell.
All the locals (native-born and transplanted) felt the chill. Most of us who hail from colder climes did not get out the parkas, scarves and gloves as did some of the tropical-born citizens, but nonetheless it was a long-sleeve day.
Our days of colder weather are the tail end of bad winter storms up north, particularly those along the east coast of the USA. The west coast storms or have little effect on us.
In fact on Christmas Day 1988 (I think) while New England froze in the grip of a fierce ice storm, the west coast experienced almost-warm weather. In Yucatan our thermostat went down to 10 degrees Celsius and in my home town, Vancouver, the temperature was 12 degrees Celsius. That is the only time I remember such a phenomena. What a twist to have a colder Christmas in Merida than my Canadian family in Vancouver!
A great perspective on Winter Joanna. Especially as it is -32 (with the wind chill) here in New Brunswick this morning…..Stay warm and I hope you get to roll those long sleeves up today!
I do feel sorry Allan. Remember the year you visited here and left Yucatan at +34 degrees C, and arrived in Fredericton at -34 degrees? You’ll just have to find a way to come back here.
Hahaha…. and I am coming there to get WARM – I did pack a couple of long sleeve shirts.
“Cold” is a relative term… two long sleeved shirts will be enough I think. Safe travels…
I sit here huddled, reading your post, with a fleece poncho, fuzzy clogs, long pants, and a steaming cup of coffee, is it cold?????? Heck Yeah! 66degrees fahrenheit inside my house!
I know Debi and the cement walls hold all the humidity inside. Open the windows and turn on the fans, get some light and air into the house and it will warm up… and next April – October, you’ll remember this morning when it was 66 degrees in your house.
There is something quite wonderfully cozy about being able to sleep under a blanket. And the cat joined us for most of the night, so we were snug as a bug. It is refreshing to have the colder temps and to cook in the oven but it sure can feel chilly in the house.
Yes it feels like a tomb unless you open up all the windows and get the fans going so that fresh air comes in.
That 1988 storm went from FL ro New England and I was caught in it trying to get to GA from CT for Christmas. We had the B & B inn in GA at the time and I still held my job in CT as we had now sold our home there. It took me 2 days to get from CT to GA. I flew as far as Atlanta and then was grounded as all of the coastal airports were covered in ice and snow. Being resourceful, I decided to take a Greyhound from Atlanta to coastal GA (usually a 6 1/2 hr. trip). The bus made it to Macon and then all buses were stopped due to the icy roads. Macon was perhaps 3 hrs. from coastal GA. My husband said eh would drive there to get me and I wouldn’t let him (even though he was a New Yorker and knew how to drive in the wintery weather, the others did not). I asked the ticket person at Greyhound how they “put up” stranded travelers and he said I was welcome to take a seat in the waiting room until the buses ran again. I quickly looked around and noticed a homeless woman sleeping on the floor. I lost it and called my husband as I started to cry. I wasn’t feeling too festive dressed in my red T-shirt that said “Partridge in a Palm Tree” and the sleigh bell I wore around my neck and the shopping bag in which were 6 hand made fruit cakes designated for coastal GA. He told me to get my luggage ( a real fete) and take a taxi to a motel and keep calling the bus station to find out when the bus service resumed. I did as instructed only to discover that Greyhound couldn’t find my Samsonite expendable wheeled luggage which emoted a train whistle from the battery operated train I had along. I was still not feeling festive even with my bell and red T-shirt with the partridges in a palm tree. On the way to the motel, I asked the driver to stop at a liquor store so I could get a bottle of wine. Once at the motel, I took a hot shower and relaxed a bit. I called and ordered a pizza for dinner – not bad. In the morning, I started calling the bus station. Nothing. No buses running. On my way back from a nearby restaurant where I had breakfast, I passed through the motel lobby and overheard a couple talking on the telephone and I heard the name Brunswick. Brunswick? That was my destination!! By this time I had decided the sleigh bell around my neck wasn’t necessary, but of course the red T was the only clothing I had! After their phone call, I introduced myself and told them of my plight and they insisted I join them on a drive to coastal GA. They were giving a family dinner that very night (Christmas Eve) at a The Cloisters (“the” club in the area) and were confirming everything. They had known about the weather and had flown from NJ to Atlanta with the idea of renting a car in Atlanta and driving to the coast. They had merely stopped at this motel as it was right next to busy I-16, the route from Atlanta to Macon to coastal GA. They welcomed me with my shopping bag full of fruitcake (which I parted with one in thanks for their kindness) and off we drove on the almost deserted highway. This was all before cellular phones, so imagine my husband’s surprise when I showed up on the snow laden curb at our B & B in GA. He was running around trying to keep the water faucets open which is what you do in coastal GA when it goes below freezing. He would never had been able to drive to Macon to get me. After I recovered next to a fire that I built in the kitchen (the only fireplace that was still operable in that old Victorian from 1996). Harry used the only shovel he and, a garden shovel, to wend a path down the 45′ walkway and then to the driveway. I had NO make-up, NO luggage, NO gifts, NO battery operated train that plays Jingle Bells. I had a red T that said “Partridge in a Palm Tree” and I was at my final destination. However, I was not reunited with my expandable Samsonite luggage until two days later. Greyhound told me they thought it went on another bus to Miami but they weren’t sure. There was a Greyhound bus station in our town and two days later when we were carefully driving on the coastal highway, I saw a Greyhound whose sign said “Miami”. I told my husband, “Follow that bus!” We followed into the town of Brunswick and the driver merely came in and checked around to find no passengers and quickly started toward his bus again. I said “Wait, Stop. Open your cargo section. You might have my lost luggage.” He looked at me like I was crazy but did as I ordered. There, all alone in the baggage compartment, was my very dirty Samsonite expandable suit case. As he pulled it towards us, it greeted us with “Jingle Bells” from the battery operated train!! We enjoyed a late Christmas that year but we ate a fruitcake on Christmas Eve. Ah, yes, Joanna, I remember the Christmas of ’88. The following year we used a photo of that previous Christmas that showed Brunswick Manor, our B & B, showered in snow. Everyone asked how we had that picture done as it had not snowed in coastal GA for 100 years! Ah, yes, I remember that ’88 Christmas. From that time on I always left make-up and clothes in GA and I didn’t wear red for a long, long time. Claudia P.S. Next time shall I share the Martin Luther King Weekend story with you? We met some folks who had owned an inn in Marietta, GA, and he wrote a book entitled “Inn Over Our Heads”. Clever but I was always too busy running my inn to write about it. These
Whoa! That was quite an odyssey. Let’s hope the Mexico City – Chiapas trip doesn’t end up like that! And you get the prize for the longest comment ever made on this blog.
It is similar here, although we are not looking for relief from heat and humidity so much as dust and dryness. During the 7 month dry season it gets so dry here in the mountain dessert that we are coughing from the dust and even get nose bleeds. By mid May we are all standing around looking up at the sky and praying for rain. Now it is dry and cold, the last few nights it has gotten down to 0 degrees Celsius. Right now it is colder here than in North Vancouver, but not so gray and damp. They also have central heating!
.
And I will be arriving soon in San Miguel. I hope it warms up a bit. Afterall, I am a tropical bird now. North Vancouver is a distant memory…