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January2016

Weather diary page

Jan 3, Taidong: Major rain event last night and today with 100+ mil in the south west (6 times the monthly ave for Jan over there) amd about 70 mil here - which is double the ave for Taidong. Definitely the biggest Jan rainfall i have seen here and coming on the back of some very dry years - possible climate shift going on with the el nino coming to a peak? Still quite warm and felt like a typical mei yu rain - wind initially coming from west then switching to north east. Rain was unforecast and seemed to form on radar right over the south of taiwan - maybe some feed up from a low to south west. This is also the second big rain storm of winter - quite unusual. Kuling tree is nearly leafless. Woodpeckers attacking dead tree.

Jan 5,Taidong: Weird winter weather continues. Last night it got down to 22.3 at 6pm - then it went up to 22.9 by 11.30pm! Slept with a summer quilt on and could have used the fan as well - very humid and sticky. That's 4C above the ave min for Jan.

Jan 17, Taidong: Really a strange winter - quite warm and lots of rain - seems to rain every few days - can't remember the last time i had to water the garden. Had triple the monthly average already. DBJF coming through tonight but today there was a big southerly, rain, and T-shirt weather - like a warm spring rain. One of the ducks started nesting a couple of weeks ago - not sure how long the incubation period is. Ornery lizards still active.

Jan 24, Taidong: Cold Snap! Either record cold or second lowest temp for most places in Taiwas - snow on Yang Ming Shan (-2C) and other mountains around Taipei - snow even falling on elevations as low as 500m. 9.1C in Taidong which is possible a record - felt like one. A few days prior it was 28C. Currently (now Jan 25) -7.9 on Yushan and still falling

Jan 25 Istachatta: Cold snap here too. Interesting that our cold snaps hit about the same time. Probably not record cold but 15F below normal. We've had at least three nights below freezing. Diguaye in the outdoor garden survived the first two cold nights but succumbed to the third. That in the greenhouse is OK but not happy. Some Moringa is still going, some not, but that that has apparently died above ground should come back in the Spring. I can't say if this has been a strange winter from first hand experience as it's my first here, but according to records, it started out very hot, 10 degrees F above normal, then went cold, very cold. Mosquitoes survived the first two cold nights, but they're gone now!! Woohoo! Enormous spider webs with their enormous spiders are gone too. I imagine this will last about 45-60 days tops. We'll see. In the meantime, it's nice being able to walk around the woods without being attacked.

Jan Pre-25 Istachatta: Too wet! Apparently this was El Nino influence, but January was not what I'd expected or hoped. Not enough sun, too much weather below 60F (15C). According to averages, January has been below average on temps, above on rain. Summer was way above on rain. I have to say though, Florida weather is still pretty sweet.