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.

Rain this winter in Jalisco due to El Niño

8 January of 2015.- The months of January, February and March are traditionally dry. However, the first quarter of 2015 could record sporadic rains in Jalisco, due to the presence of El Niño, which occurs when the waters of the Pacific Ocean have an increase in temperature, reported Meulenert Angel Peña, professor and researcher of the Institute Astronomy and Meteorology of the University of Guadalajara (University of Guadalajara).

"If the tropical Pacific warming more than normal, can cause an imbalance in the atmosphere and that imbalance manifests so that in some areas of the planet rain when it's not the rainy season" said the expert.

Entre enero y marzo habría lluvias en Jalisco por El Niño

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 !!!

It's mushroom time again

Normal mushroom time is during the early summer rains but after 5 days of winter rain they are popping up in the yard. Looks like we may have 2-3 more days and the Weather Underground even said we might get thunder showers tonight -- they are seldom accurate. We should have sun by the end of the week.

Plants and lawn are loving it. The new sisus vines (like ivy) are halfway up the 3 meter walls, new leaves and branches on new trees and my badly abused avocado (transplanted twice) is starting to sprout new growth. Even the banana that I salvaged from a vacant lot has a strong second leaf.

The worst part about rain here are the roads and they are miserable.