The poignant truth about weather

Weather, weather on my call, will it be sunny, rainy, snowy, foggy… or is it them all?

When I say to people that I live in the Netherlands, many would think it’s synonymous to Poland, New Zealand or Norway. Quite funny, but after a constant slip-up, it starts to exacerbate and magnify, not my irritation but how dense some people are [insert sarcasm here]. I didn’t know many individuals have actually flunked their geography subject in high school, huh? Ah, don’t humor me anymore please.

Anyway, many also think that it’s very cold up here. People have this whimsical vision of immaculate imagery, a country dyed in white, in with none other than - snow.

I thought so too… but not until I came to live here.

Instead of looking forward to the spring season, March 2006 greeted us with more wintry days. It has been snowing since the eve of 28 February, which was the last night of Carnaval. Yes, it’s white outside, but in this foto it seems that my surroundings have turned into a 1960 black and white TV!

The Netherlands lies on the north western sphere of mainland Europe, bordered by Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea facing the UK over the west and Norway to the north.

What most people do not realize are these interesting topographic and climate facts:

1. The country is situated along the coastline, thus the maritime temperate climate effect.
2. Majority of the land sits below sea level with many reclaimed polders, protected by dikes.
3. It is the receiver of strong winds coming from the North Sea.
4. It is a flat land all throughout and there are no mountains to isolate temperatures and winds.
5. It is positioned under the area of heavy precipitation pressure and due to its maritime climate, water usually come down in the form of rain, and not always snow. In fact it seldom snows here.

All of the above plays a significant role why the weather in this country behaves like a mad scorned woman, fraught under a notorious midlife crisis of spasmodic unpredictable personality disorder and bouts of PMS syndrome. They happen every now and then, if unlucky, every day and sometimes, every minute.

There was a time when I witnessed a series of dramatic and instant weather changes. They all happened in just a span of seconds from each other. I would have wished to capture the amazing display of nature on video but I only have pictures to show.

This is a sneak preview of how obscure and erratic the weather is in the Netherlands, yeah, in a span of seconds. Thus is the reason why I have become obsessed on checking the weather man every single day.

Without the weather man, we wouldn’t know what tomorrow is like. Mind you, it affects greatly what our outfit is going to be like plus the added survival paraphernalia kit to arm ourselves, i.e. umbrella, raincoat, how many layers of clothing inside, type of gloves, must you wear something on your head and so forth.

For the scrupulous types, think of these possible scenarios:

The heavens might decide to send a package of snow or hail. Perhaps it will just rain and be damp all day, just like how it is all year round anyway. There is also a large chance that the skies would elect to yield the tampo [sulking phenomenon] resulting into a grey and gloomy day. Maybe some thick fog will accompany it too, well you never know. How about some strong winds occurring on the next hour? Besides, how low shall the temperatures go down today? Or, are there intermittent rays of hope during the day, such as a glimpse of the elusive sunshine? Ah, anything can happen in the Netherlands…

Last year, the largest bank in the Netherlands conducted a first-ever study quantifying the extent of adverse weather conditions affecting industry production in Western Europe, Scandinavia and North America.

The Netherlands was placed on the highest extreme risk of losing close to 30% of its industry to adverse weather conditions, followed closely by Denmark. The article can be checked here: Weather Risk Study Compares Vulnerability of Industry in Western Europe, Scandinavia and North America for First Time

What is interesting and seemingly familiar between the two countries is its topography and climate. Denmark has high amount of precipitation, is flat and is also situated along the coastline right above the Netherlands towards the east facing the North Sea.

The climate and topography hazards the four season countries experience are nothing different with tropical countries too, although variations on the source of causes and effects will show, still, ultimately the quantified risks are the same. The difference however, as compared to how western nations proactively act [exemption: Hurricane Katrina] is how countries in Asia turn a deaf ear on predicted warnings of catastrophic events such as the case in the Philippines several weeks ago in the province of Leyte. Due to heavy rainshowers, a mudslide killed close to 2,000 people [and so did the Asian Tsunami and the yearly flooding in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka].

This is the mountain that collapsed a few weeks ago in Leyte [Visayas, central region] with rescue choppers flying towards it and flash floods in Nueva Ecija [Luzon, northern region] way back in 2004.

Such a distressing tragedy, the country could have done something to help prevent the perils of adverse weather conditions that now has, and will continue, to unnecessarily affect and kill the lives of many... And puh-lease okay, don’t ever give me the crap that this is all about god’s punishment!

I believe the Philippine government is not that obtuse as we may think it is. To simply not be explicitly aware of the nation’s unique location in the Pacific tropical belt enclave, visited by storms, cyclones and monsoon rain, year after year, is bollocks. Additionally, the Philippine government is very much aware that the country is rich in natural resources and because of this, greedy businessmen have risen up to the occasion [they are lining up], many of them purportedly are cleverly supported and concealed by local or regional high-ranking government service men.

What is the crime? --Deliberately and unashamedly raping the Philippines rainforest through illegal logging and deforestation = costs the lives of many

Some people are lethally avaricious, they are evil incarnates serving only their insatiable appetites. To add insult to this already full blown tumor of an injury, the side of the law does almost nothing. Sad fact it is but many of the Philippine politicians are just too shady to be trusted. Internal investigations on graft and corruption are last sighted lost in the weaves of red tape, later exterminated and dumped into the Smokey Mountain reservoir of waste [squat village of the destitute that sits on a mountain made of garbage].

Uh, I blabber away and digress again.

What can I do? Weather... such a poignant subject it seems...