Falling Back, 35. Winter Storms on the Way.

Heavy rain and high winds are forecast for tomorrow. And an orange alert for conditions along the coast. One of the first fall storms is about to arrive, bringing a cold front with it, and much colder air behind, with highs next week barely reaching 16ºC/60ºF. But this storm system is just the prelude to a week with low pressure areas forming just next to us, one after the other.

As long as it's followed by some sun at some point, I'll have to take it. There was a winter at the beginning of this century when it was storm after storm. We would celebrate a day in which we could see blue sky and remember what the sun's warmth was like. Wind and rain was our lot during the worst of the winter months.

Yes, things are changing. My apple trees tend to blossom twice a year, now, though they only give fruit after the spring blossoming. Gorse blooms in March, but this year it also blooms in October. Some years, we've gone to the beach in October, though this year it doesn't look like that might happen. Last Christmas day was so warm, we were wearing short sleeves, and I was seriously considering changing into shorts.

My husband remembers winters where the norm was that it would start raining in September, and it would continue until May. Snow would regularly fall in the hills, and the few nights that remained clear would form frost cold enough that the top half centimeter of puddles and ponds would freeze over. 

Now, it doesn't rain as much, though enough to annoy me, still, and snow doesn't always appear on the hills. The day there is any snow, I go crazy and see if I can somehow drive up to play with it and just stare at it. Last winter, there wasn't any. This summer and fall, there have been so many tropical depressions and storms, that the weather service ran out of names, and have progressed along the Greek alphabet to Epsilon, which is probably one of the storms that are forecast to hit us next week. 

I am not anxious for the stormy weather. Yes, I like a good storm. But I like it once in a while, and would prefer the tiles all remain in their place on the roof when it roars by. I don't like a storm every other day, and feeling like scales are about to grow on my skin from all the water and humidity.

Apart from that, high winds tend to bring blackouts because our electrical supply passes through woods and high areas, like the cables that were knocked to the ground in March of last year, that sparked the large fire that burnt the hills for two days. A few minutes are fine, but when they last, and reach an hour, or even an entire night or day, that's too much.

Every year, weather will only get more extreme, and we have to learn to live with it, somehow.

Life continues.