Four Seasons

In Niamey. Came in because I 1)chipped a tooth and so have a dentist appointment and 2) wanted to grab my passport so I can participate (incha allah) in a bike ride in Benin this coming week - though nothign certain yet.

It rained last night, a good solid rain. So that begs the question, Is rainy season here?

Of course in Gaya we had our first 'rain' way back on April 20th, but it was a pitiful amount and since then there have been a couple of good sprinkles, but nothing substantial that has really gotten people excited to plant their fields.

In honor of the upcoming (and long awaited) rains I wanted to give a brief summary of the four seasons Niger style:

June - September : Rainy season. The long dry spell which lasts the entire year finally breaks and the dust, quite litteraly settles, so that things have a cooler and cleaner feeling. The temperatures drop, at least when it's raining, which is a god-send at night when hot season can make it almost impossible to sleep. The downsides are that after the rains, the strong sun here will pull the mositure back out of the ground and it can become VERY humid - think the South in the US, only with hotter sun, but just as much humidity. It feels like the earth is breathing out one long steady hot breath. Another downside is the bugs. They die out over the long dry spell, but come the rains, come the mosquitos, flies, etc. This is malaria season as well as planting season.

October - November : Mini Hot Season. After the rains end there is typically a two month period where the heat rears its ugly heat again. Really I think that the heat never went away, the rains just mitigate it a lot and so after the rains it seems as if the whole world heats up again. This is harvest time as well so lots of hot work for Nigeriens.

December - Febuary : Cold season. Keep in mind cold is a relative thing here. Cold could be 80 degrees, but sometimes it gets down to the parka wearing depths of 60 degrees... parka wearing if you're a Nigerien, though for me, a fleece is enough. Surprising how we can become accustomed to a certain range of temperatures. I frequently think, oh it's not too hot today, only to look at a thermometer and see it read 95. Cold season can be nice since it's 'cold', but it's also the start of the long dry stretch where everything green starts to wither and die and the dusts of the Harmatten start to haze the sky and coat everything in the house in a fine layer of sand. This is the time when people do their gardening so tomatoes and other veggies are more available.

March - May : HOT season. Pretty self explanitory. 110-115, even as high as 120 in some places and times, though not usually that hot in Gaya. The dust of cold season continues to hang around, but the winds stop blowing for days at a time and the heat can just settle in like a blanket that one can never throw off. Pretty terrible at night when the temperature barely changes from the day time. Life during hot season is largely onr of trying to stay as cool as possible, naps in the afternoon, and a lot of sweating. Bus rides are a bad idea during hot season (though unavoidable usually). The saving grace of hot season is that the mangos start to ripen.

Just a short post about nothing. Small chat on the weather if you will.

Kala Tonton.