How's the Weather?

I had a funny conversation about the weather the other day. It began with the guy asking me about the weather at home right now. I tried to explain to him how unpredictable it is in Virginia so you never know how it's going to be outside until you are outside. His response: "but don't you have people that predict the weather for you"? I said yes, but they frequently get it wrong. He seemed confused and told me that we should take after the weathermen in Ghana because they are always right. I laughed and told him that I could be a weatherman in Ghana; it's not hard!

I arrived in Ghana in September, the middle of the rainy season, and it strongly resembled a Virginian August, but perfectly consistent. The rain tapered off around October and completely quit by November. It was then that it started getting dusty--REALLY dusty. By the time I returned from Ethiopia in January, it was possible to look directly at the sun, without sunglasses, at any point during the day; it just looked like a large yellow moon. The blue sky completely disappeared, as did the horizon (no pretty sunrises or sunsets, the sun just dissapeared around 5:30), and we were left with a thick grey haze in every direction. This is the effect of the Harmattan, a wind carrying dust from the Sahara. I knew the dry season would be dusty, but I had no idea what it would really be like. Everything (including my skin, clothes, hair) was coated in dirt. It was impossible to stay clean. The perk was that the temperature dropped. Though it still got plenty hot during the day, the mornings were cool enough for a jacket. But the cool mornings lasted less than a month.

You may notice I'm using the past tense. A few days ago, I saw the outline of clouds in the sky. The next day, the clouds were clearer, and on Friday, it rained! I happened to be walking home from Logba (a town 5 km away) at the time, so I was caught completley off guard and got drenched. The road went from dusty to a river of mud in minutes and the air cleared immediately. When the rain stopped, the sun was bright and the sky was blue. We basically went from dry season to rainy season in 45 minutes. Since then, it has rained a bit, but nothing like that first day. The temperature is climbing and the sun has returned to it's brutally hot state.

So that's the story here; what's yours?