Weather

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High Tides and Grey Sand

We’re having a period of high tides here in Mazatlán, and along with the tides, Hurricane Linda passed on the other side of Baja. I took a bike ride this morning in the coolness left from the rain overnight and I took a couple pictures to show you. At the bottom you’ll see the surf graph, shared by Surf in Mazatlán. The title of the post is with apologies to The Rolling Stones, remembering one of my favorite albums, High...

Hurricane Odile brushes past Mazatlán

Category 4 Hurricane Odile passed by (well, it passed by on the Baja Peninsula) and we were worried that the wind, rain, and storm surge would be worse than what we received from Norbert. But thankfully last night Odile gave us mostly wind and waves. We fared so much better than those poor folks over in Cabo, what a night they had over there! The palapas along the malecón have really had a time of it. First Hurricane Marie, then...

Hurricane Norbert’s aftermath in Mazatlan

I went for a walk this morning and was amazed at the destruction on Playa Norte due to the high winds and surf from Hurricane Norbert. Norbert never even came close – it stayed West of Baja the entire time, but with Hurricane Marie passing by earlier between the two the power was magnified. People along our entire coastline are dealing with a lot of damage – Stone Island took a hit, the hotels in the Golden Zone suffered damage,...

A Tropical Thunderstorm

The climate here in Mazatlan is described as “transitional tropical wet and dry” but tonight it was entirely wet around here! The thunder, lightning and rain started around 11:30 and in the hour and a half since we have received about three inches of rain. I know how much rain by looking at the change in water level in our fountain, but if you ever want to know the weather right in the center of Centro near the Mercado, just...

Summer does grind on in Mazatlán…

Here we are, finally.  The end of September.  Rainy.  Hot.  Humid. And there’s more than a month to go.  Rainy season usually ends in the first week of November. We’ve had two huge rains this season – one about 10 inches and one more than 11. (That’s from my unofficial bucket rain gauge.) October is the tough month.  You’ve just had enough. Last year we went to Mexico City for two weeks, and this year we are heading to Ajijic....

Still no rain in Mazatlán

So far the rainy season has been a bust here in Mazatlán.  Most years the rains start very close to June 24.  So that’s six weeks ago.  Since then we’ve had only one real rain.  That was a biggie, too – over two days we got around six inches!  But since then, nada. There’ve been a couple of times that the pavement got wet and we hoped it would come crashing down, but no. Last night the thunder started rumbling...

What Summer in Mazatlán is Really Like

There aren’t many expats still in town these days, but the hotels are at 100% occupancy, mostly with visitors from other parts of México. It’s the rainy season, but except for our big rain back in June we’ve only had a few light sprinkles here in Centro. We really need the rain. Almost every night the clouds build up and we notice the yellowish bruised looking sky near sunset that in past years always means the rain is coming. But...

Rain!

Since we moved here from the Pacific Northwest you would probably think I’d have had my fill of rain.  Maybe I even thought I wouldn’t miss it when we moved here. But surprise! – I do miss it – especially since it’s been such a long dry season here in Mazatlán – nine months this time.  Our last rain last season was on September 30, 2010! We had a little bit of rain – chipi chipi they call it –...

Summer is coming…

The last couple of days have felt warm. Not hot – blast furnace hot – like it can get in August or September. In August you can drive along with your hand out the window and feel the heat just like an oven. Right now it is warm but there is this little undercurrent of cool. Even though it isn’t super hot it takes a bit of time to adjust and I have been a bit woozy today, not feeling...

Let the sun shine… umm, 360 days a year, more or less

Paul and I are so happy that the rainy and gloomy Pacific Northwest weather is just a memory – we love living in sunny Mazatlán.  We love all the new plants we can grow and waking up every day knowing we can enjoy the outdoors.  But lately we have been pretty jazzed to finally be taking advantage of the sun for a practical purpose. Earlier this week we had two solar hot water heaters installed on our roof.  Originally we...

No drama here.

The temperature and humidity around here keeps cranking up and up.  Sometimes when I get up at night I can’t believe how soupy it is just outside our air conditioned room. We still mostly run the air conditioners at night, but with occasional cool siesta times, too.  We are getting tired of sleeping in the air conditioning – I hate the constant rumble and the air movement makes my eyes water. A couple of nights recently the power has gone...

We’re back from a break!

Paul’s birthday is in June and each year we have been taking advantage of low season summer specials for hotel rooms in Mazatlán to have a bit of a getaway.  Last year we spent only one night at Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay, and this year decided to spend two nights at the Inn at Mazatlán.  It is great to lounge by the pool and let someone else do the cooking and cleaning! The Inn at Mazatlán’s staff seems very friendly...

The plants took a beating…

Tropical Storm Rick really gave the vegetation in Mazatlán a beating.  Walking the dogs this morning I realized that the west  side of every tree we passed by was burned and blackened or bleached looking. A lot of the plants at our house are in pots, and those most affected by the storm were on our upstairs front patio.  Keep in mind that as the crow flies we are about 4 blocks from the water but we are behind Icebox...

windy, rainy, stormy — and now over!

Puerto Viejo took a beating! We survived non-hurricane Rick.  But wow, it was quite a storm.  So in terms of what storm categories mean,  we now have an understanding of Tropical Depression and a Tropical Storm. I don’t have any desire to get to know Hurricane! It started out Tuesday with rain pretty much all day long.  It felt like we were back in Washington – just the constant drizzle contrasted with periods of heavier rain. The Plaza de los...

Can’t stop thinking about….

Rick. That’s right, Hurricane Rick.  Below is a short video of the waves and sky at Olas Altas this morning.  (It’s a different one from the one I posted to Facebook) We are hoping that he loses steam and when he comes ashore it is just some stormy weather and rain. We are really, really hoping that. If any of you would like to see the sites that we’re using to track him, my favorite is eebmike.  I think eebmike...