Windy Kuwait Sunrise
The wind is blowing; if we were in Alaska, I would think it is a huge snowstorm outside from the whistling around my windows, and the curtains blowing, even though the windows are closed and “sealed.” (Yeh, right.) Last night, I could feel it coming – I don’t have asthma, but I can feel a dust storm coming in my lungs. AdventureMan was using his puffer frequently, not a good thing.
Out on the balcony, early early in the morning, we can not see the Kuwait skyline; it is obscured by dust. The wind has totally transformed the surface of the sea; it is pushing waves which are crashing against the shore. Well, small waves. The sea has been flat and glassy for weeks; this is a significant difference.
The sun is coming up before five in the morning. I had a restless night, and couldn’t sleep any later:
Have a great day, Kuwait.
Breathless Day
The air is still, and there isn’t a single wave on the vast, flat glassy Gulf. At eight in the morning, it is already breathlessly hot:
It’s not getting any better. Maybe by the beginning of next week, as you can see, a little “cold” weather will be moving in 😉
The only way you can determine the difference between water and air is the layer of yellow tinged haze on the far horizon:
Here is what my life looks like right now:
Yesterday, a sweet friend dragged me away from all the packing and focus on moving and treated me to a day at the Aquatonic Spa. I admit it, she had to drag me – I can get so immersed in my misery that I don’t even want to do something fun.
In spite of my churlishness, we had a great time. Playing around in that fabulous pool, and then having beauty treatments afterwards – it just took all the misery out of me. I felt great for the first time in weeks. I slept last night without waking, and awoke refreshed, thanks be to God, and thanks to my friend who knew what I needed better than I did.
Heat Impact
Zipping around town yesterday and last night was really zipping . . . I don’t know if it is the temperatures, already up in the scorching realm – or if some people have already left on vacation, but traffic is definitely lighter. A jaunt I always allow 30 minutes for, to be on time, took a mere 10 minutes. Driving downtown – it was QUIET. There were cars, but not a lot of honking, not a lot of jockying for position – traffic was calm, traffic was quiet. Even driving home, there were the normal bottlenecks, but traffic continued flowing, never came to a standstill.
Isn’t it early for it to be this hot?
Weather: Kuwait and Qatar
You’d think, these two countries being in the same time zone and just up the road from one another, you’d think that the temperatures would be almost identical.
You’d think wrong.
Kuwait gets both hotter – and colder – that Qatar. When Kuwait gets blazing hot in the summer, the temperatures may be as much as 10° cooler in Qatar. You’d think that would be a sizeable difference, but you’d think wrong. Kuwait’s climate is so dry, the humidity so rare, that it FEELS hotter in Doha.
In Doha, it feels like the sea evaporates and leaves a coat of salt on your face. I always had to carry wipes and face cream with me in the summer. Even in the earliest hours of the day, the humidity drips off you. You change clothes frequently, to stay fresh. And yes, all this takes air-conditioning into account. If you have never lived in the Gulf, you cannot begin to imagine 1) how hot it gets and 2) what the heat and humidity together can be like.
The temperatures swing past one another in April/May, October/November. The swing has occurred a little later this year, but it definitely has occurred:
Kuwait Forecast
Qatar forecast
May Rainstorm
We had a great day yesterday – we organized and worked all morning, then quit, dressed up and went out for lunch with people we really enjoy. We didn’t rush – we had one of those long, lingering lunches where the conversation flits from here to there and even after several hours, you know you still have plenty of topics left to discuss – and that there will be a next time.
On our way home, a few huge drops hit the windshield and AdventureMan said “oh look, a torrent!” because in Kuwait, unlike Seattle, unlike Germany, rain is precious, and even a little is treasured.
He spoke too soon, however. The rain stopped. Then, another few minutes later, the real rainstorm, short and sweet, happened, just enough to wash all the dust spots from the two day’s previous dust storm, off. (Meaning one day of dust storm, and one day of lingering dust haze.) A few bolts of lightening, a few rumbles of thunder, but nothing earth-shaking.
The smell of the rain falling in a dry and dusty country is unbelievably sweet. You smell dust, but you also smell freshness. The heat – it was 36°C/ about 90°F – seems to ramp up the clean smell.
It was short, intense, and sweet. All too soon, it ended.
Light Haze Sunrise
At six in the morning, it is already almost 90°F / 32°C. WeatherUnderground says there is a “light haze.” I can’t imagine what they call a heavy haze. At least the light haze is white, not the orange of yesterday’s sandstorm, but there is still an awful lot of the “light haze.”
Hamd’allah, I have air conditioning. I feel human again. The Alaska girl in me has it turned up to 72°F / 22°C, and I am comfortable.
It took me a long time to capture a glimpse of the sun, early this morning, through the “light haze.” Even as I write, the sun is a great big hazy ball, high in the May sky, oh-so-early on a Friday morning.
I happened to be up early this morning, and was shocked to see busses arriving and laborers – Moslem laborers, like from Pakistan and Afghanistan, getting off buses, carrying shovels and picks and tools to go to work. I thought all Moslems in Kuwait got to take Friday off. Guess I was wrong – and I so often am.
Have a sweet, quiet day, Kuwait. We will be praying for you, in our little church, and for your leadership and your upcoming election, this Friday morning. We wish you only the very best.
Real Time Sandstorm
I’m in my living room, currently the only air conditioned room in the house, the other area A/C is broken, and even in the living room, things are hotting up. Packing boxes, suddenly the light dims and I look outside.
Oh thank God! You might think that is a strange reaction, but when I am packing, any distraction will do. And the light is fantastic! Who knows when I will see another sandstorm rolling in like this? I shoot lots of shots, then scoot off the balcony because it is heading right for me.
I won’t show you what it looks like now. You know what orange looks like. It is totally a bright ochre orange outside. The shoreline is visible, but dimly. The street lights have come on and the smarter drivers have their headlights on. Just in time for drive-time home – be careful out there, Kuwait!
Sunrise Tuesday, May 13, 2009
Every sunrise now is poignant – I will not have this kind of view in Doha. I will have palm trees, and sometimes parrots and / or parakeets who migrate through and love the date palms. I will have a yard, and two colored bougainvillea, and pots of home grown basil. I will have a neighborhood where I can walk freely, all by myself and never worry about being harassed, and a pool where women gather and joke around while doing water aerobics. But oh, I will miss these glorious Gulf sunrises!
Amazing Day
Yesterday turned out to be one of those days that surprise you. I didn’t have a lot of hope for the day, I started off feeling negative and thinking about cancelling appointments. My head has been a little stuffy, I have a mild cough, altogether, I am not in peak form.
I decided to keep my appointments, which required preparation, and the prep turned out better than I had expected. In fact, the entire day was full of unexpected blessings.
First – I know not all of Kuwait experienced it, but the storm! Lightning! Rain! Rain in late late April! Whoda thunk?
Then, the light – drama drama drama – dark dark clouds, but sunlight on the white-capped water, bringing out all the shades from turquoise through jade and lapiz into deep purple – oh, what joy! Last but not least, the wonderful breeze that kept everything from being hot and sticky – what a day! What I might have missed!
Water 1, Road 0
EnviroGirl sent me this, it’s a powerful testament to what water can do. People in Kuwait still talk about the sudden rainstorm that killed several people here, especially those trapped in an underpass which flooded quickly.
This took place in Maine:
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