Summers Commin’

“I’m Hot, Your Hot, He’s Hot, She’s’ Hot”
~ Buster Poindexter ~

The seasons they are a changing.

Three months ago the weather was still hanging on to the last little bits of the winter. We had cool days and cold nights. Every once and a while I even had to turn on the heater in the CHU. But not very often.

Two Months ago spring was in full effect. Spring here is a mix of heavy rains mixed in with extreme winds which with rain or not brings in the dust storms. Some days the dust storms would be a lot of light dust over a few days. And by light dust I mean heavy enough to cancel flights, but still light enough were visibility would be up to a quarter mile. It turns everything brown. Or well, more brown.
Heavy Dust storm are more like walls of dust a few hundred feet high that blow in cause a lot of problems and then are gone within an hour or two. The heavy storms bring with them a lot of static storms that cause all kinds of problems with our communication gear, and visibility down at times to feet. And of course they turn everything brown-er. The temps stayed mild for the most part. Some days it got as hot as the 90’s yet still could drop down to the low 40’s at night. Most days the temp would just hang around the 70’s.
Spring lasted about 2 months with really shocked all of us. The seasons here are knows to change from the cold of winter to the heat of summer in days, not months. So two months of mild temps even with the mixed in rain and dust storms was very welcomed. The worst part of it is that when it rains here the ground instantly liquefies and ground that seemed like rock turns into 6 inch deep mud. And it is nasty thick stick to everything mud. But once the sun is out the mud is gone. It is like magic!

This month it all changed. Summer has hit here and it has hit hard. The temperature quickly rose from a 70’s average to highs well in the triple digits. This week alone the high has been over 120 each day. The lows drop in to the lower 90’s yet the nights are already feeling comfortable. This morning the temp dropped all the way down to the mid 80’s and I felt cold.
The rains should be gone for the most part for the rest of the summer, as should the really bad dust storms. That is not to say that the high winds are gone. Every day is windy and the wind makes it feel like an oven as soon as you walk outside. It is so hot that it is painful. Your eyes burn, your skin is on fire. Your clothes heat up so bad that even when you are back inside where there is A/C it takes a while too cool off.
We have 4 months left here and all 4 months will be hot. When we leave here it the temp will still be in the 120 range. But back home it will be in the upper 60’s maybe the 70’s and we will all be frozen. Putting on a jacket is something that I am very much looking forward to.

But for now I will slather on the sun screen, and try to beat the heat.

Back To The Sand.