White Out

It was a pretty wild snowstorm we had yesterday. It wasn't much until around 4pm, but it dumped plenty of snow around the city. The wind was howling last night, creating some large snowdrifts. It was an adventure just walking down the street--the sidewalk in front of my building is dry, but a few feet away the snowdrift grew to almost two feet.

Fortunately, my car was not buried under two feet of snow like some others.

Both cars were parked next to each other for the entirety of the storm, and only one is completely buried.

Twisted in Shenzhen

Yesterday I heard about tornadoes in Shenzhen. I never heard about tornadoes in Shenzhen while I lived there, and this was quite shocking as it was actually three simultaneous tornadoes. And this came shortly after we were scared by warnings in the New York City area (one touched down in the Bronx). It really has been some unexpected weather lately.

Fortunately, I haven't heard anything about injuries in Shenzhen. The tornadoes were in Shenzhen Bay near Shekou--only a few miles from my last apartment. I guess these would be better classified as waterspouts as they didn't make landfall. According to the Shenzhen Daily, it is the first recorded in Shenzhen (though no word on how far back those records go).

There are some amazing photos of the tornadoes in Shenzhen here (captions are in Chinese).

Snow Day

The Mid-Atlantic states are still digging themselves out of the huge snow storm from late last week that somehow completely missed us here in the New York City area (we got a dusting at most). And we got hit with another storm that was predicted to be another 20 inches of snow. We didn't escape this one, though it looks like there's only about an inch or so on the ground (it's still coming down though). Yet, plenty of schools and businesses are closed for the snow day.

A college friend reminded me that our university never closed for numerous snow and ice storms during our tenure. We all grumbled about the policy, but attended class nonetheless. I even had a professor who broke an ankle in an icy parking lot--but the university never cancelled classes for any reason.

Our time at the university reminded me of working at the graduate school in Shenzhen and how classes were never cancelled. During my last year and a half we were hit by a few typhoons. Each of those storms closed nearly everything in Hong Kong, but absolutely nothing in Shenzhen. I did have to reschedule a class because of one of those typhoons, but that was because the school bus got stuck on a flooded street and didn't arrive at campus until well after the class ended.

Celebrate a New Holiday

Well, the holiday isn't new, but it is something new for me. I was reminded that tomorrow is Diwali. As there is a significant Indian population in Jersey City, there will be some events. Supposedly there will be a lot going on in Little India (one block of Newark Ave. near Journal Square). I also came across an announcement for a Diwali celebration at an Irish pub--sounds like a fun cultural mix to me.

Unfortunately, the weather does not look promising. It seems that we have condensed autumn to a couple weeks and headed straight into winter. It's rather cold and raining. If I was still living in Shenzhen I'd be contemplating turning off my air conditioner for much of the day. Instead, I'm wondering how long it will take for the heater to get my apartment to a comfortable temperature.

Heating Up

It's still February, right? 

Yesterday was a rather hot and humid day at 29 degrees Celcius (84 Fahrenheit) in Shenzhen. The forecast is for more of the same today. 

I recall not having weather this warm until at least the end of March. Most places don't turn on the air conditioning until the end of April or start of May.

A Little Snow (Not in Shenzhen)

I know I shouldn't mention this because many of my friends and family will hate me for it, but this is the closest I've come to seeing snow in China in the last three years (and it wasn't even winter).
These were the mountains on our second day in Jiuzhaigou--new snow on top when we awoke in the Tibetan village. The first day we couldn't even see the mountains behind all the clouds.

Today in Shenzhen it was mid-20s (that's Celsius to you Americans--it's fairly temperate). However, the gray skies didn't make it feel too warm.

Again with the Typhoons

Typhoon Nuri is headed my way today. When I checked yesterday afternoon the course was set for the eye of the storm to pass right over Hong Kong with winds at about 130 km/hr (I don't know my metric conversions). There are a lot of dark clouds over Hong Kong as I can see from my window, and the wind is picking up a bit, but no rain yet.

Just glad I don't have work yet. I'm supposed to go into the office Monday and then classes start the next week (I think).

For a Day in the Park

The typhoon-turned-tropical storm has passed through Shenzhen, leaving behind plenty of rain and flooding. According the Shenzhen Daily, we received 176mm of rain on Wednesday. Yesterday, the school bus was extremely late again, and I had to reschedule my first class. Today, I was on time, even though the rain was heavy by the time we arrived on campus. I'm fortunate to not live in Shekou. My boss has been having some serious problems with her house since the last round of storms rolled through, and they've been complicated this time around. With everything that continuously breaks in my apartment, I'm lucky to not have any of those troubles.
For this Friday's photo, I'd like to present a decent day without rain--from a nearby park here in Nanshan (just next to Book City). Don't ask me what that hollow egg-shaped scultpure is supposed to be. There are a few of them around the park.

Thanks to the remnants of Typhoon Fengshen, I didn't have work today...sort of. I walked out to the bus stop at 7:55 as usual, and got soaked because an umbrella doesn't do much when it's raining sideways (I also found that my umbrella leaks under heavy rain). At 8:15 a car pulled up and the driver motioned for me to get in. I didn't recognize the driver or passenger and couldn't get them to identify themselves so waved them off. Even if they were just being polite, I didn't want to take any chances.

At about 8:25 I was soaked up to my knees and slightly wet everywhere else, and I decided to go home. I called my office and was told that the school bus was only then at the second stop in Shekou (I think I'm the fifth stop on the route). Problem as I saw it was that there was no possible way to get a taxi in a tropical storm and it was also impossible to arrive at school in time for my class at 8:40 (the bus takes about 30 minutes to get to campus). We decided to cancel class and reschedule for Friday morning. I just hope the weather clears up a bit tomorrow.

Get the Ark Ready

The rain in South China has been extreme lately. It's not as bad as the Midwest US, fortunately. We've had mostly sunny days during the past week, with heavy downpours all night--and Friday was a full day of steady, heavy rain. The previous week also had a significant amount of rain every day. Chinese media are reporting at least four deaths in Shenzhen related to the storms. The forecast is still saying more rain is coming. On the bright side of things, the rain has cleared up the air--I can see into the distance and the colors of the city are quite nice at times.

My area has been fairly good with drainage of the rain. Although there seemed to be a problem Friday night along Houhai Dadao. My complex, however, seems to have some problems. The pool is filled to the brim, the stairs outside turn into waterfalls, and pools form on the large balconies below us due to blocked drains. So, while the streets may survive, my building may not.

I'd also like to wish my readers (and, of course, my father) a happy Fathers' Day. Hope it isn't too wet.

Soaked and Fake

It's been raining for the better part of the last week. Yesterday and today have been the worst with constant downpours. We're getting more rain than we did when the tail-end of the typhoon past through a while back. Fortunately, my area and university campus have decent drainage and there hasn't been any flooding. But, it does ruin plans for the three-day weekend with flooded roads to potential destinations. It looks like we get to spend the days inside watching TV and reading.

I was struck a little bit ago with a common gripe--finding a fake 1 Yuan coin. Identifying a fake coin is quite difficult. Generally, the fakes are slightly thinner than the real thing. Also, most fakes don't have any printing on the edge. For some reason, the one I had today actually had that printing.

I asked my students Thursday why people would bother making these. They responded with: "You can make a lot of money." This argument doesn't make sense seeing as it takes too much effort to make a lot of money 1 Yuan at a time (not to mention the cost of actual production). Is it really worth counterfeiting such small sums?

Did Someone Turn Off the Heat?

Mother Nature is playing an April Fool's joke on us. It's the beginning of April and it's a bit cold for Shenzhen. The Last two weeks I was wearing short-sleeved shirts to work. Now I'm back to long sleeves and feeling a bit chilly in the office.

Well, as long as it keeps the unbearable heat away for a few more days, I'll live with it.

Weather Report

Just as I was enjoying the cool autumn-like weather of Shenzhen in December, Mother Nature decided to screw around and throw a little global warming our way. Today was significantly warmer than it has been the previous three weeks--I've actually worn a light jacket on a few occasions. I was sweating while waiting for the bus on the way home for lunch--I was only wearing my usual pants and a fairly light, long-sleeve shirt. It now feels like it did back at the end of September. I'm starting to wonder just how I'm going to handle New Jersey in February--I haven't been anywhere really cold since I lived in Colorado almost three years ago (and it really wasn't all that cold there).

From Shenzhen Daily: In the last two months there have been a total of 54 days of haze, which is the highest in recorded history for the young city. The haze in Shenzhen is being blamed on a drought. The rainfall is 70% lower than normal over the past three months, and this is considered the dry season here. I really can't remember the last time I saw rain.