Late December Weather Report

Having been born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, I'm pretty used to weather that most others would consider to be "inclement". I also spent five years walking on my university campus as an undergrad, and made fun of people who owned umbrellas (I still do that). After nearly a year and a half in the Middle East, I was ready for a change of climate. For the most part, Aberdeen has been what I was looking for.

That said, this winter has been intense. I mentioned the snow from the 4th and 5th of December. For several weeks in November and December, it was bone-chilling cold here - I actually slipped and fell in the park on two separate occasions. Now that we're in late December, it's inexplicably warmer than it was just a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday, I went to the city center to run some errands, and it was rainy and extremely windy - not Orkney windy, mind you, but pretty windy for Aberdeen, and more windy than it usually gets back home. The last time I can remember Aberdeen having wind as strong as what we've had the last couple of days was the day of my first meeting with the Director, and people were stunned that I'd been out in the elements. We've even got flood warnings, apparently!

They even had to charter a Hercules transport plane to restock the supermarket in Shetland because the weather and sea conditions are disrupting ferry passages. Orkney benefits from a couple of ferry lines across the Pentland Firth, but even these have been subject to disruption. The weather and sea conditions have also disrupted travel across the Churchill Barriers, which I discuss here. It sort of makes me glad that I didn't wind up making plans to head up to Orkney for Christmas, but actually, I still sort of wish that I was up there, hunkered down in a cottage. Huh. There's a sentence you don't hear too often.

All things considered, I'll take Aberdeen weather over Mojave Desert weather, which I'd take over Middle Eastern weather, all of which I'd take over the weather in the South.