The Weather

Before leaving home, everyone said they were so jealous that I’d get some warm Portuguese weather. Little did they know that the Azores has winter too. Even I, despite visiting the islands many times, was a little dismayed by what welcomed me.

I checked weather reports before I left home and was expecting a balmy 16 degrees Celsius. It may very well be 16 degrees, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. The humidity here is intense, making it seem much, much colder. “It reaches the bones,” as my grandmother likes to say.

At night I’ve been sleeping with a hot water bottle along with a sheet, a wool blanket, a fuzzy blanket, and two afghan blankets. Not to mention sweatpants, a long sleeved top, and socks. And I still feel cold.

Other weather weirdness here includes windstorms. Last night it took me ages to get to sleep because the wind and rain kept beating down on the roof (I sleep in the attic bedroom). Just minutes ago, there was a sudden thunder and lightening storm. It only lasted about ten minutes, but the rainwater poured down the outdoor balcony steps like a river and a small lake appeared on the patio. The electricity even flickered in and out.

Then it stopped. There are now puddles everywhere and it’s still misty outside, but otherwise it’s hard to tell that anything out of the ordinary happened. But that’s just it. This is ordinary. It’s February on these little islands in the Atlantic.