Until the sun started shining a couple hours ago, I had wondered if someone failed to read the small print around the Mayan prophecies--you know the statistical disclaimer of "+/- 3 or 4 weeks".
Around here, and the Middle East in general, the weather has been quite abnormal.
UPDATE 01-11-2013, 9:00pm - Eight have died in Egypt due to weather this week.
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| not filmed in Cairo |
For example, Cairo typically sees .5-.75 inch of rain PER YEAR; but in the last 48 hours, we may have received 3 times that much. Cairo streets are typically covered in dust, and garbage/litter collects along the sides and at nearly every corner--as a result of all the rain, the city is a sloppy mess. Regular "rainfall" in Cairo (what most other locations would classify as "drizzle") is like spraying mud because it falls through such dusty air--then, it drips off of dustier roofs, trees, etc. -- as joyful as it is to see the rain when it does fall, no one goes out to sing in it.
Over the past week, the temperatures dropped dramatically and the highs stayed in the upper 40's and low 50's -- now for a kid from Nowhere, Indiana who vividly remembers some harrowing blizzards -- that's not "cold", but it's dramatically colder than normal around here. (Last winter was the coldest for the longest that anyone in Cairo could remember--but was a bit warmer than it's been the past few days).
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Phillip Seymour Hoffman knew to
watch for "greenage" in the
movie Twister |
The wind has been strong. Cairo has its share of strong, windy days--the kind of days that can put so much dust and sand in the air that all you see is orange when you look outside. Due to all the moisture, we didn't get that "orange" effect -- but the wind was strong enough that I began looking for that "green effect". Those in the midwest and southeast know what I'm writing about--in times of severe thunderstorms and high winds, you watch for the skies to go a bit green and begin thinking about shelter because it may indicate a recipe for a tornado.
Tornados (from what we've been able to briefly research) are not common in the Middle East, and when they occur,
they are the smaller, weaker version that are not necessarily the catastrophic damage producing type that are seen annually in the US.
Yet, Keli and her host family in Beirut witnessed
a tornado over the Mediterranean Sea yesterday -- it never came inland, but it was quite an eerie sight for people who have never seen such a thing. Keli couldn't catch a pic of the water twister, but a few bloggers did. Keli mentioned the news was talking about the tornado and that no one could ever remember such a weather event.
The cold and windy weather that produced the funnel cloud, also led to hail and then snowfall in Beirut; Keli did take the picture of the resulting snow fall. Beirut had experienced such hard rain and flash flooding over the past week, that inclement weather has kept children out from their schools.
But, through it all, we're doing just fine. We praise God for shelter--though the villas (like most Middle Eastern structures) are not made to retain heat, we have heaters and blankets and layers of clothing--there are many homeless and poorly-homed people throughout this region that are having a difficult time. Consider also the many refugees throughout the region--Heart for Lebanon and many other organizations have been distributing heaters, blankets, and winter coats--but countless thousands are still battling the abnormal conditions.
Though we often request your prayers for peace--pray this week for warm, drier air to return to the region; pray for gifts and provisions to be made to assist those with less; and pray the tornados are not seen again!
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| Keli's pic of the snow in Beirut yesterday |
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