Thursday 25 December 2008

Dreaming of a white Christmas


No, that's not snow, although one place on the island is experiencing a white Christmas. Those white blobs are simply raindrops from a particularly heavy shower here tonight reflecting the camera's flashlight. The rain is welcome after a very dry summer, but I hate it when you have to shout to be heard above the clatter of rain on the roof. Don't anyone bother phoning me tonight, you won't hear me and I certainly won't hear you!

I'm sure I'll garner little sympathy from those on the mainland, but this was the coldest Christmas I've experienced since, er, last year, which was the first I spent back in the UK for 12 years. Setting aside last year, I can't remember a colder Christmas day since I arrived in Hawai`i. It didn't get above 74 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Celsius) here all day. Brrrr! Imagine the terrible discomfort and inconvenience - no Christmas sunbathing this year!

As I write this thunderstorms are everywhere although fortunately none too close - these days I'm very nervous when it comes to thunder as the house has been struck several times over the last three or four years, and it's a thoroughly unpleasant experience, I can tell you. I can hear thunder and see lightning to the north over Hilo, it sounds and looks as though the coast north of here is being pounded. The worst of the storm is yet to come though - I might find myself under the bed with the cats if the lightning gets bad overnight!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas day.

5 comments:

Keera Ann Fox said...

What temp do you usually have for Christmas? And why are your cats afraid of lightning?

Anonymous said...

Merry Xmas Tom!

I can tell you that in Hilo the thunder and lightning were quite bad last night and got really bad at about 4am - it woke us up and kept us awake.

Tom said...

Keera - 80 degrees and usually beach weather. And anyone who'd lived in this house during the last few years would be deathly afraid of lightning!

Ant - the thunderstorms seems to have re-ignited. The current ones are a touch north of me so you may get another sleepless night. The last lightning strike was uncomfortably close to here though and the thunder is definitely getting louder.

Keera Ann Fox said...

80 degrees and beach sounds lovely.

Do you live on top of a hill or something? (You may have said and I may have missed that.)

Tom said...

Keera - no, I don't live on a hill. The house is a little taller than the other ones around here but that's not it, I've lost several trees to lightning as well. There's just something about this place that thunderstorms love!

I think there's a scientific reason behind it, it might just be the geography (I live on a point that sticks out in the ocean).

I know one or two weather experts so might ask them.