This is Monday night, April 9 and it is raining. Even better, it has been raining almost daily since last Wednesday night. We love the rain here.
The first clouds looked good from the back window of my classroom.
In many countries people are not excited by rain. In fact, someone might say that the weather was terrible if it is raining.
On the Arabian Peninsula people have a different view of weather than people in wetter climates. Here, we are excited when we clouds. If someone says that it may rain, people smile in agreement or sadly disagree because they think the clouds will pass without rain.
The first rain drops had everyone excited!
After ten minutes we were getting hail with the rain and the streets were beginning to fill up.
The only bad part about rain here in Taif City, is that we don’t have much soil to hold the water so it just flows along after it hits the ground. This is very mountainous (we are a mile above sea level) and rain just runs down the mountains into the streets. At one place Wednesday night, the street was so flooded that I saw cars floating in the street. The water swept them sideways and then they were blocking the way for the other drivers.
The rain was beautiful and we even got some hail. There was much lightning and thunder also. I had to teach the students these words in English because they were new to many people.
There were many cars that got flooded out and some major intersections flowed like small rivers.
We were all happy except those with cars full of water. And, even they were happy for the rain.
Wow! Lightning behind the hospital.
Some streets were like rivers with parts so deep that cars had to stay on one side.
Rain is a great blessing when you have had none since last August!
Comments
Dear teacher Bob,
It is an interesting blog!
“Raining in Saudi Arabia”,
Dear sir, do you have some reservoirs to collect water when you get heavy rain? I think you rarely get rain, and please let me know on how to conserve water for longer-use? What about the water management in Saudi Arabia? What about the desalination projects in your country or do you take water by using deep-well pump systems?
Good Luck!
Bimal
I should correct myself. The Dihatsu version of this vehicle is the Dabab. My Yemeni friend taught me to say debob but more people pronounce like duhbob. Anyway this one got washed away in the last rain which was four and a half days ago.
Here is one small vehicle that washed away and ended up next to a wall near my house. I think we have been four days without rain now, but nobody has come to get it. Another rain may ruin it completely. Today I walked over to it and everything is dry and dusty already.
Thanks!
Word hail is no doubt a new word for me but it isn't a new thing for me.
I've seen small pieces of ice while raining several times. They usually melt very quickly sometimes even before rain stops. People avoid going outdoors because they hurt people and other things a lot.
Thanks a lot for teaching me a new word...
Hello Bob,
Amazing pictures of rain and city, it reminds me of my Mumbai rainy days. During the rainy day the roads were jammed, train tracks jammed and water floods the road. I just see one of the picture of water flood on road.
When you leave your office at evening and rain water fall on your hair, water droplet moved down and touch you skin. You just feel rejoice to the moment and then run away on road splashing water. I just love rain.
Thank you so much for giving this feeling by these picture. Have a nice rain to you!
A rain poem for you!
Rain rain the hummingbird sang,
its sweet serenade in celebration of the rain,
As it hovers near my face I look deeply into its eyes,
and wonder for a moment if it could be a fairy in disguise.
Rain rain the hummingbird sang,
as I'm sitting outside listening to the rain,
under the electrified sky engulfed in a mist,
the world is reawakened by the rains soothing kiss.
Rain rain the hummingbird sang,
the cooling rains have come once again,
to purify the desert of its lingering stagnation,
oppressive heat, dust, and desolation.
Rain rain the hummingbird sang,
what a wonderfully perfect day this would have been,
if it weren't for this damn blood sucking mosquito,
diving into my leg like a malignant torpedo.
Surprise, it isstill raining tonightTuesday, April 10th.
Thanks to everyone for the comments. My students do know the meaning of lightning but not in English.
As for hail, it is pieces of ice falling from the clouds and in many countries it is not common.
Many of you at MyEC have never seen it near your homes. It can break windows and kill small animals and birds. It can also damage your automobile.
I will share this from Wikipedia "Hail is possible within most thunderstorms as it is produced by cumulonimbi (thunderclouds),[1] and within 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) of the parent storm. Hail formation requires environments of strong, upward motion of air with the parent thunderstorm (similar to tornadoes) and lowered heights of the freezing level. Hail is most frequently formed in the interior of continents within the mid-latitudes of Earth, with hail generally confined to higher elevations within the tropics." and the link with a nice photo is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail
Fascinating! I love the part about you having to teach students words like "lightning" and "hail" because they haven't been exposed to much weather! Thanks so much for sharing. I wish we could find a few more MyEC teachers to blog like their adventures in foreign countries.
Wow....what a lovely blog!
We too get excited when it rains because this happens very rarely. Sometimes not even once in many years in a row. Rain is indeed regarded as a blessing where I live except if you live in a house which has very weak walls and roof. Many people die every time due to collapse of the buildings when it rains heavily.
Hail is a new word for me. What does it mean?
Thank you for this wonderful blog, sir. And photos are no doubt awesome especially the first one.