Transition to dry season

 

Walk in the woods

After two very wet years, this years rains were way below average. Something strange happened with the weather whereby the late rains were later and heavier and/or the normal rainy season was earlier and shorter. This resulted in above average rains in January and February with rains nearly completely subsiding by March with a few showers in April. As a result the onset of the dry season has been earlier than usual.

The transition from rainy to dry season is a slow and creeping transition. The rainy days less frequent changing from raining every day, then every few days, to finally having a week or two pass before it rains. A sporadic rain will then be welcome but then there is always a day where one realizes that it is not going to rain for another six months! Evidence is usually through the drying of leaves or the lack of germinating grasses and shrubs. Intermittent influxes of termites and other insects become less frequent and the oranges and brown overtake any green and yellows.

The rainy and dry season are so long that the transition times feel like they pass so quickly. A few weeks of sunshine with the absence of rain will sap all the remaining moisture from the air and ground. It will signal all the flora and fauna to pack it in and hold on tight until the rains come again!

Sometimes it reminds me of the fall colors in North America.