Talk about the weather

Today I woke up to fog so dense that when I stepped onto our balcony it was like stepping into the clouds. I couldn’t even see the mosque next door (the one so prominently pictured in our blog header). Talking of the weather is supposed to mean you’ve run out of things to say, but in my mind, any variation from the sunny, blue skies found over Abu Dhabi 98.7% of the time, is worth a post.

What’s interesting about the weather here is that it’s so uninteresting that no one even bothers to report on it. Granted, I don’t watch TV, so it’s possible that there is a local meteorologist who reiterates the fact of sunshine each and every day, but I do know that there isn’t a weather section in The National, one of the main English-language daily newspapers of the UAE. If there was, it certainly wouldn’t help to sell papers. And the only time it’s ever mentioned on the radio is when an over-caffeinated DJ says “Hey, I think we may hit 50 degrees today!” (that’s Celsius, folks).

In the seven years that we lived in New Jersey and Massachusetts, looking at the forecast was part of my morning routine; how else would I know what to wear that day? In fact, I sometimes checked weather.com a few times a day (it could change so drastically between my walk to and from the office), and I loved watching the weather segment on the evening news – it was so exciting to watch a system roll in from the west and not be certain until the last minute whether it would sit over New England giving us a good soak or bypass us and head for Nova Scotia, allowing us to sigh in relief that we didn’t have to cancel our apple-picking plans.

But in Abu Dhabi, from March to November I dress for hot weather, and from December to February I throw a cardigan over it. There are no questions as to whether I can get away with sandals (I can), need a coat (I don’t) or should grab an umbrella (we don’t own one). So, on the handful of days when inclement weather does occur, it takes us completely by storm (I know, I know, couldn't resist).