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Weather diary page

August 1-6: Saola passed north of us. Taitung got less rain than any other county on the island, though we had some very stiff winds for a couple of days. Since Saola, it has been hot and muggy and quite hazy. There is another typhoon, Haikui, passing the northern tip of Taiwan over the next couple of days, but it probably won't affect us at all.
August 8: Extremely hot today. I took the motorbike on a wide circle today, down to Zhiben via 11 and back via 9 to Fugang. It was a good thing I could stop in Taitung for a swim in the spring pool, then again at my office for a couple hours of AC before heading back. I won't be doing that again under these conditions any time soon. I actually considered buying some cheap pants on the way back because my legs were burning. No wonder the locals get all suited up under these conditions. It really is cooler to be fully clothed. (Yeah that was a brutal one, though with the typhoon before and a storm in sw after it, the weather hasn't been too bad. It's when that day becomes three weeks long that i start to go a bit tropo.
August 10: There's been an intense storm cell operating in the south west the last two days - places in pingdong getting 300ml plus in short time. Some of it trickled up the east coast as far as Taidong city, but didn't make it this far north. There have been a few drops of rain and very faint showers, but clouds looked high and didn't seem like it was going to rain properly. Technically, those drops were from the same storm system that was tearing it up in the south, but we were right on the extreme periphery of it here.
Aug 11: Drove up to TP and was staggered by the destruction caused by Saola. South of Hualien was fine, and Hualien seemed fine, but just on the northern outskirts there was some serious damage done. The worst was a small town just south of Nanao which had been inundated by a landslide. And landslide is almost too nice a word for it, coz what it was was an avalanche of stones, rocks and boulders. Every house seemed to have been affected, and although most were still standing, many were weirdly full of rocks. Am sure there were over 50 landslides on the Su Hwa and was amazed how quick they had got it open. The size of some of them was quite staggering. A few seemed to be 500m wide or more. Also disturbed to catch glimpes of the underside of the road in several sections where you could see it had eroded to a very dangerous point and was hanging by a thread. Another hard hit by a typhoon this season and that road could be closed for months.
Aug 13: No rain (in XC) for over a week, but temperatures relatively mild with decent cloud cover. Typhoon Kai-Tek looming and heading in this general direction and another low behind it so looks like we're in for something. Mosquitoes are going crazy tonight, which is odd coz there's been no rain - noticed this once before, just before a big north-easterly, so wonder if they know something is coming. No sooner had i finished writing and i hear the sound of rain on the roof - those mozzies really do have sort of sensory thing happening. Note: that rain sounded promising, but only lasted for 20 secs. Then nothing.
Aug 13: Oddly, we had no mosquitoes here in DH tonight, but between 8/5-8/7 we were getting attacked. Tonight, not even a nibble. Yet, yesterday afternoon I got stung by something on the porch. It couldn't have been a wasp or I would have seen it. It was probably a small bee or something, but the finger swelled quite a bit. But the weird thing is that I've been stung at least two other times since yesterday by various critters, once while on the motorcycle and once while sitting under a tree, and I had a couple minor stings in addition to those. Very odd. I've been stung more in the last 24 hours than I have in the last ten years. Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket.
Aug 13: The mozzies were on the go again tonight, but not quite as insane as last night. Had what now appears to be the standard, hot dry ne that seems to spring up when a typhoon is about 2-3 days off. Assuming it's the wind rushing into the low, but don't know why it only seems to blow in the day time. It then dies off, and after a lull period, is replaced by a wind coming from the same direction, but which does seem to be typhoon generated outward wind. This wind also brings a different feel, cooler, and more threat of rain, but virtually no rain comes with the day time wind. Today, the 'inward' wind wasn't as pronounced as it was on previous occasions. Would like to know if this wind is beneficial to the typhoons development or not. Cross wind is considered an inhibitor of development, but is this crosswind, or just part of the typhoon building process and the bigger the better? Whatever, we're into phase two now. after a brief lull, the wind has started to pick up with that different outward vibe. But still just the odd stirring. Thunder and lightning on horizon, but no rain. Radar shows heavy rain getting almost as far as orchid is but then dissipating.
Aug 17: We seem to have turned some slight seasonal corner lately, since the first storm of the season anyway. August has been generally much nicer than July, with frequent partially cloudy skies and occasional rain. It's still hot and muggy, but at least there is some variety. Today has been very nice with plenty of clouds, a couple very slight sprinkles, low breeze, generally OK. It was a good day to garden (clouds, soft soil) so I cleaned up a couple beds and planted about twenty Moringa seeds and some lettuce. I actually have three or four lettuce plants from last spring still alive in the garden. I have no idea how they survived, but one reason is that they didn't go to seed and still haven't. They went semi dormant and had just enough water to survive. I also have, believe it or not, an asparagus plant growing among my diguaye. Now why is that? Again, hasn't gone to seed. Mosquitoes have been very bad the last few days between 6pm and 8pm. Oh, yea, I didn't plant that asparagus! Must have been a former tenant. Plants and their seeds are amazing.
Aug 20: Tembin is predicted to hit us about the 23rd, and we are experiencing beautiful pre pre typhoon weather, meaning very clear skies with enormous clouds. The mosquitoes have been horrible in DH the last five days or so.
Aug 23: Tembin has stalled off the east coast and is predicted to pass over southern Taiwan early morning of the 24th. The JTWC has it passing over us quickly, once it actually starts moving, entering the Taiwan Strait after only 12 hours over Taiwan, then it's supposed to turn around and had back east, possibly hitting the west coast for a second time. We'll see. At this point I'd be happy if it did anything.
Aug 27: Tembin made its first pass, had looped around, and is on its way back. The rain has just started. The wind was intense on its first pass, but it's this one that worries me. It looks like we could be in for some massive rain.
Aug 28: Tembin 2 passed without incident in Taidong, except for Orchid Is which really did cop the double barrel. Reports of 12 metre waves.
Aug 31: Some interesting showers recently that didn't seem to be obviously related to a low pressure. Possibly a rare overflow from a storm happening on the other side of the coastal range. Rainfall total for Aug: 556ml. Well above the 300+ ave. Two falls of 369 and 98ml associate with typhoons did the trick.