Typhon Season in Taiwan

It's typhoon season. We've already weathered several typhoons that have hit different parts of the island and been in our general area. None have affected Taiwan terribly. The southern part of the island is always worse off - we're at the north end of the island.

All eyes are glued to the weather websites again this week. These storms always seem to hit on the weekends, much to the students' and teachers' grief. This one, Typhoon Jelawat, is projected to hit Taiwan on Friday, and to continue into Saturday. No typhoon day for us.  It is currently classified as a super typhoon - category 5, but it looks like it will lose steam as it moves toward us.   As you can see from the radar image, it's pretty intense now.

Here's this morning's Wundermap courtesy of Wunderground, my favorite weather site.

We were recently (about 10 days ago) on the northern coast of Taiwan for our staff retreat.  A typhoon had passed by Taiwan and was headed toward the southernmost Japanese islands.  However, the waves it left behind that were crashing on Taiwan's coast were immensely powerful.  I have underestimated the power of the sea for so long.  That left me with an incredible respect for the power of the ocean.  Needless to say, we didn't spend any time at the beach at the staff retreat.

One good thing about typhoon season (other than the occasional typhoon day) is that when a typhoon is swirling in the ocean to the east of us, it acts like a massive vacuum sucking all the precipitation clouds into its vortex. So we get some pretty beautiful days before a few windy, rainy days! Yesterday was one of those gorgeous days. Today looks pretty promising, too! So I guess I better get my housework done so I can get out and enjoy it later!