March Weather

Our neighbor Dan in Greenwood is a weather man.   I don't mean weatherman as in the guy on the TV news.  I mean weather man as in betting man or leg man.   Weather is someplace between a passion and an addiction.  It just so happens that he's also a professional meteorologist.  But I believe that if he were a Wall Street Banker that he'd still have the rain gauge and weather station in the backyard as a hobby.  He's pretty good at predicting the weather too, which is no small talent given that Midwest weather can vary wildly from day to day.

He would be bored to death in Suzhou in March.   Even I can predict the weather in Suzhou in March.

• Today: Cloudy with fog, mist, and light rain.  High of 45
• Tomorrow: Cloudy with fog, mist, and light rain.  High of 45
• Next week:  Cloudy with fog, mist, and light rain.  High of 45

It never really rains hard.  It hardly ever rains at all, really.  But it seems that there is a perpetual mist - heavier than a fog and lighter than a drizzle - that hangs on all day long.  Every now and then we get a day that surprises us with some sunshine and relative dryness. But, hey, I can stick with my forecast above and still be right 80% of the time.  I'm not sure Dan has that high of a batting average back in Indy.

The Suzhou natives tell me not to worry, that it will most certainly change.  They say that it will stay miserably cold and wet through the Qing Ming holiday at the beginning of April.  Then it will get miserably hot and wet.  They say that there are only two seasons here - winter and summer.  And the one goes to the other without a break in between.

The Chinese seem to have a low-key and ironic sense of humor.  I haven't yet learned to tell when they are joking and when not.  I'm really hoping they are joking about the weather.