It's cold out there

Lorena's dog - Burro

It's been in the mid 60's (18C) at night and Burro is dressed for the weather. My fan over my bed is turned off and I cover myself with a sheet. Neighbors are all bundled up. Winter is definitely here.

What a swarm

The swarm

I found this in my pool yesterday morning. Any water in my yard had more of them. I remember something like this last year but I don't have a clue what triggers this.

How do the ants know it’s time to emerge? The weather, mainly. “As it gets towards June, the colony starts producing flying ants, [which are] these reproductive males and females,” explains Hart. “The females will start a new colony and when it’s warm they emerge en masse. They fly into the air and the males mate with the females. The females drop to the ground, lose their wings and, if they survive the birds, start a new nest.”

Pou

I'd never paid attention to Pou when kids talk about him/it. Today Nahima was playing with mom's CEL and she showed me the game. First, she scratched his stomach and he giggled. Then she talked a bunch of gibberish and Pou repeated the sounds. Then I had to talk to it and my words got repeated. Lorena said he can do a bunch more things. Someday I'll let them show me.

Warm temperatures predicted

Warm weather for Mexico

Warm temperatures to extremely hot predicted over much of the country: SMN

COLIMA National Weather Service (SMN) predicts warm to extremely hot over much of the country's environment, and south and southeast wind gusting to 50 kilometers per hour. For Colima maximum temperature of 33 ° C is expected, with mostly clear sky.

What to do with a rainy week

Make Bread

We've had clouds like these for the last 4-5 days with rain off and on. Hurricane Dolores passed well offshore but we got a little before and after weather from her. Working in the yard is not a lot of fun when everything is wet and there definitely is no painting or sealing the roofs. Last night we may have had the most rain and Melaque had it's normal flooded streets this morning. Took Yari into town for her next years school fotos along with a bunch more shopping.

Our rain clouds

Sitting in front of Foto Geity 

Followed a Ciabatta recipe

Really the best bread yet although a little moist/heavy inside. I even made a sour dough starter the day before which didn't get very sour so neither was the bread. This was a no-knead process that only took 4-5 hours rather than overnight like most others. I fed the starter after using some and it looks like what was described. I tried a little sour no-sugar yogurt to see if that will help

Dog days of summer

When you stop by a neighbor to see their six new puppies think about it when they ask you which one would  you choose. I was advised they needed to be with mom until about a month and a half old but the neighbor kids took/stole a few and the owner was worried they would all disappear. 

Sitting at my computer three days ago, 4 year old Nahima walks in with this puppy in her arms. After agreeing how cute she was Nahima told me it's my new puppy. "That's the one you chose when we looked at them". 

Oh boy, now what .... so we stopped by Beto the vet to see how old and what to eat and drink She is only 4 weeks and no milk because it will giver her diarrhea. I bought an especially nutritious dry food for young dogs to the tune of 160 pesos a kilo.  So it's kibbles and water. Now she sleeps and wanders the yard, molests the big dog Coyota and cries when she can't get up the patio steps. Seems to be doing well.

Chata in her bed (Chata means flat face)

Puppies with mom a few weeks ago

Very, very cool and wet weather

A Weather Sandwich

We get storms on opposite coasts now and then and sometimes the weather becomes pretty interesting. These two don't look all that serious but really you never know. It is something to think about when you are gong to fly out within the next week. Seemingly unrelated to the distant Invest 93E is today's weather in the bottom graphic. Actually not all that uncommon this time of year and the wind and rain has started from that big red/pink blob.

Pacific 5 day potential

Atlantic 5 day potential

Today Monday the first of September

Melaque is right in the middle of graphic

In out of the weather

These guys like to sit on the sconces inside my covered porch. It's out of the rain, wind and high enough my cat can't even think of going after them. When they first started this I was afraid they were ready to make their mud nests but no sign of it for 4-5 months. They built a nest upstairs but I got it before there were any little ones in it.

I have two neighbors that have swallow families living inside their homes.  One house is always open and the other is open during the day. A little startling to have one fly past your head as you walk out the door.  They must be great bug catchers but mucho poop below the nest is why I don't welcome them.  One was sitting on my tomato supports this morning and I stood there talking to him less than a meter away.   Very cool birds. 

On the sconce

One still there under the porch

Charcos y Lodo

While on a Chapala message board they play this game of name "the first rain" date ... our first 3 days have come and gone. Their game rules are so strange nobody has won yet even though it has rained quite a bit in the Chapala area. Here when we have our huge charcos (puddles) in the street and lodo (mud) streaming down the hill in Cihautlan to cover highway 200 .... we have rain.

Thanks to hurricane Amanda for breaking a 5-6 month dry spell. Amanda reached a level 4 hurricane but was far enough offshore that we just felt the rain around the edges.  Not much surf and just a nice breeze for 5-6 days. Weather reports say lightning and rain storms for next week but until another LOW comes up the coast it's very hard to tell. So I borrowed these Melaque street shots from Canal235 and a link to their weather fotos around the area. 

Temporal de Lluvias Cihualtecas 2014

Canal235 also had a foto of the piling installation of the new bridge 

Winter rains and swallows

The weather sites said no more rain after all we've had and lots of sun coming later in the week but it had to go out with a bang and we've had thunder and rain all afternoon.  I know it won't last forever but has sure been hard on the roads and holiday vacationers.

What the rain brings is puddles in the street which is not real common this time of year.  The swallows are not always here either and combined they made a real show the other day.   I've seen swallows skimming over a lake or pond trolling for bugs but never over puddles.  They were following the streets, turning at each corner and turning around doing it again.   All this activity at just a foot above the ground and I expecting one to fly between my legs as I watched them.

I don't have a camera that would capture this and evidently no one else has seen something similar so I just decided to use an attractive Japanese print.

With road conditions, overcast and rain we didn't even try to see the fireworks last night.   Fireworks at Grand Bay and probably a few more hotels in Barra or Melaque but we'll do it when it's easy.   Instead many neighbors used my garage for carne asada, music and party very late into the night/morning.   We had our own fireworks that we bought at the tianguis days before.  

A good new year to all !!!

Direction change - Like it or not

A few intentional and unintentional derailments in the last month with interesting results for each.

The most current one is this weather. We´re into the 4th day of unexpected rain, and not a light rain.   At least an inch a day so far and the forecast says it may ruin the New Year´s Eve party tomorrow night. At least I have no school bus driving responsibilities until about the 7th of January. I just turned on the pilot light on my water heater as cold showers are no longer refreshing.

The second was the second death of my PC. After thinking about it for about 5 in days I decided to buy a small Samsung laptop just to stay in touch and what ever else I might manage with it.  So far it´s working out fine although I really don´t like Windows 7, it´s in Spanish and Windows 7 does not support my 2 older (not that old) Lexmark printers. Gonna have to look at new printers and or building another Windows XP machine.  I just bought 2 new printer cartridges which we all know cost almost as much as the printer and hopefully are not outdated.

The real change that we are not supposed to talk about until much further into the process for fear of looking either real weak or real stupid or both .... is dumping the tobacco.   I have no idea why I´ve allowed myself to smoke up to age 70 or why I was willing to pay $1600 pesos ($125us) a month to do it (probably 3 times that in the US).   Anyway we are 3 weeks into the "process" and I´m a physical and psychological mess .... but I still suggest cold turkey.    Just don´t do it is the only way for me. Vamos a ver !!

90 and it feels like 102

Those are thunder heads I can from my roof.   They are inland over the mountains.   Do you think there is the slightest chance they will move this way .... maybe in the evening?   We have been hoping and the Manzanillo  airport weather station often gives us a 30-50% chance but none yet.

This is the chance of thunderstorm Icon that I see every week for a few days.   Obviously father/mother weather does not read the Internet nor does rain God Tlaloc.

Today this is what we got ... and you'd better believe I'm headed for the pool after I write this.   Lately I'm sleeping on a towel because it's easier to wash than the sheets twice a week.   And I thought September and October were the warmest last year .... but at least they included some rain.

Temperature today
32 °C = 90 F
Feels Like 39 °C = 102 F

First LOW of the Tropical Season

Well this one is right on time and the Tropical Weather season starts tomorrow on the Pacific. Seems like we had an even earlier one last year. When a storm is this young it's hard to tell which way it will head but speculation is West/NW and out to sea. It's been named Invest 90E and may become a storm by Thursday.

What is also interesting is the humidity has risen dramatically in the last week, overcast all day and the refreshing breezes we were experiencing have faded.

From this morning

From 2 this afternoon

Todays Melaque weather

From the Weather Underground at Manzanillo airport

33 °C  =  91

Feels Like 41 °C = 105

T-storms

80% chance of precipitation

We've been over a week without rain and are only hoping for more to cool us off again.   I caught these two fotos a little over a week ago in a really good storm on my IPhone.  I've tried many times to catch lightning but there were so many this time they were difficult to miss. 

Clear and close

Hidden in the clouds

Two showers a day weather

It's definitely two showers a day weather along with two changes of clothes working or not. Later in the year I usually turn off the hot water as a warm shower is the last thing you would want. Now, just leaving the pilot on warms the water enough for a quickie. Still cool most nights and mornings

The Monsoon Trough

Mainly this is just new terminology for me, never heard of it before. Does this happen every year, is it different this year, I don't know. I ran into the term and the map on a message board in a weather conversation. It looks ominous for the west coast of Mexico but this could be a yearly occurrence? Will it move next week? Sorry but you'll have to Google the subject if you want to learn more about this phenomenon

The Monsoon Trough is a favored place for tropical cyclones to develop, while this generally does not occur with the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) due to its proximity to the equator where the Coriolis effect is zero, and thus rotary motion around a low-pressure center cannot be supported. Thus people should be aware that a tropical depression or tropical storm could form in the vicinity of the Monsoon trough.

What's with the Rain

It's rained all day today and hard at times. The Chapala weather station say a little over a 1/4 inch but we've had more in Jocotepec. It's been overcast for almost a week with occasional showers ... and now it's January.

It's been raining more on the coast and friends are telling me my property in Melaque is becoming overgrown again and needs mowing. Mexicans there say this means a very wet coming summer. What do the weather gurus have to say?

Fruit in the yard

So far quite amazed at the weather and not surprised that so many varieties of fruit grow here in the Lake Chapala area - although a little over a week is not much of a weather monitor.

The avocado tree was cleaned out by my landlord just after I'd agreed to rent. I doubt there will be more this season. The mango tree looks far from season but healthy. Only four stalks of sugar cane. Palms of the decorative sort only (5). The tangerine tree is loaded with sweet, juicy and full of seed fruit. The guayaba is badly pruned with most over the wall into my neighbors yard. Both large and small limes - large the size of lemons - small like key limes. The apple tree has been butchered from bad pruning and I'll try to clean it up this winter. And I've never seen a pomegranate tree but I have one.

I'm tempted to get down on Mexican gardeners and the way they treat fruit trees ... but I've known gringo friends up north that have done much worse. It's not easy and even I could use a little (Internet) help with the apple.

Pomegranate and flower


Tangerine


Large Lime with bug


Apple

First "Invest" of the season

The Weather Underground link below is to the first tropical weather pattern starting to develop in the E. Pacific. CNA calls for more gusty winds this afternoon - yesterday was the coolest weather we've seen in weeks and today should be about the same. Yesterday's high temp was 82.4F/28C - low was 75.5F/24C - humidity ranged from 64 to 74%. The constant breeze is keeping the ocean temperature down to just below comfortable

Invest 90 on the Weather Underground
ConAgua

Invest 90 is it's name and we'll have many Invests over the year, 91's 92's, etc. I always wondered what the numbering denotes or even the term Invest . This is the best I could come up with from a weather related message board.

These "Invests" are usually first listed on the Navy's weather page.... and are numbered 90-99 and have a letter attached, identifying the basin in which are they are located. L- Atlantic. E- East Pacific. W- West Pacific., etc...etc...etc... Once an Invest is declared, the NHC starts running model data on that particular system."

Tropical weather on the west coast of Mexico

Evening rains

I hear people up and down the coast tell stories of afternoon/evening rains almost like Hawaii. Maybe they are residents or maybe only short time visitors. Don't know but it sure is not that way here in Melaque or even Manzanillo. Proximity to mountains that would draw the rain out, ocean currents, Colima volcano ??

In this area it totally depends on the weather passing by in the Pacific and can rain any time of day or for days. This morning after about 5 days of sun I was awakened at 6am by the sound of thunder which soon turned into a downpour with lightening for about 3 hours. Time to unplug all the electrics

Waiting for the next weather front ...