Let's talk about the weather

This week we had a typhoon adventure.

On Tuesday, at school, in the morning, it was announced that we were at a T1 warning, meaning a typhoon was in the area and could affect us. If it turned into a T3 during the day, the evening barbecue for staff and their families would be cancelled. The T1 created a huge sense of excitement at our house. Typhoon! As it turned out, it turned around, and we were left with rain. It has rained on and off for about a week now.

On Friday, we saw the return of Pabuk. Apparently the little devil turned around and was coming back at us. It was T3 in the morning, but at school, the message came around at about 2pm that it was going to be upgraded to a T8 and we had to be out by 3pm. It was quite blowy, and raining, and darkening, and I hurried through the High School to get to the bus stop. There were tons of people! Another teacher came out, and after we waited for a while, someone he knew from school, in admin, came by in his car, and we had a lift with him to Stanley.

At home, the water was amazing. It was like surf - lots of peaks and actual waves, splashing spray metres into the air, against the sea wall. Inside the apartment, I had to convince David and Hugo not to walk along the pier, so they watched through the windows. The wind was very noisy, but we didn't see anything much blow away, although I did hear that an nearby Repulse Bay, palm trees blew over.

Sunday night, and it's still raining. The way the Typhoon warning system is basically like this - T1, there's a typhoon looming somewhere - be on the alert. It then jumps to T3. This means take precautions, like packing away loose things, and be on the alert - it's closer. It then goes to T8, with a wind direction, and at this point the public transport shuts down and everyone is expected to get inside and stay there. Next is T9 and T10 which is when the windows are at risk of shattering, and you're right in the thick of it.

You can follow the Hong Kong weather at: http://www.hko.gov.hk/contente.htm

At this moment there is a tropical depression about 1500km from Manilla. Stay tuned!