Friday, October 19, 2007

Forecast: Bizarre

I think West Lafayette has the craziest weather I've ever seen. I'm serious. The weather changes like five times a day here. Take yesterday, for example. Yesterday morning was miserable. It was cool, overcast, and rainy. By about 10 the rain had started to clear up. Around lunchtime the sun was out, the ground was dry, and it got up to 80 degrees, causing everyone who had put on long sleeves in the morning to go home and change. Then the wind started to pick up. At 5, when I went to dinner, the wind was whipping around and everyone was worried there might be a tornado coming. When I left dinner at 6, it was perfectly calm out. There was no wind, but no sun either. That night, at around 9-10, it got really bad. Rain came down in sheets and wind was getting up to 40mph. Everyone had to go down and shelter in the basements because of fear of a tornado. Then, after maybe 20 minutes, the storm passed and everything was calm again. An hour later, when I walked home, rain was pouring down and soaked me to the bone.

What is there to do about such bizarre weather? Not much. There is often no way to anticipate such drastic climactic changes. All one can do is try to prepare for as many different circumstances as possible. Carrying a small umbrella and a light hoodie or jacket in your backpack will often serve you well. Watch out with umbrellas though. The wind here can have adverse effects on them. A few days ago I was walking to McDonalds in the rain when the wind picked up and turned my golf umbrella inside out. Needless to say, I got pretty wet. I managed to get it back to normal, but I kept a close eye on it from that point on. If you use an umbrella, make sure that the outside points towards the wind, not any of the inside.

2 comments:

CandiedYams said...

I'm from northern Indiana, so this weather isn't much of a shocker to me, and I'd guess its the same for most native Hoosiers. While there is no real way to prepare for everything, the weather forecast is usually pretty good at predicting rain. If it calls for light rain, or rain off and on all day, just wear a hoody or a light jacket. While walking to class, keep it on, and when you get inside, just take it off and wear whatever was under it, it should be dry still.

In regards to the random severe weather, get used to it. Being so close to large lakes makes Indiana's weather very inconsistant. Tornados, snow one day while 75 the next, and flash flood happen every year. Just hope we get lucky and get snowed out of classes for 2 days like last year.

Lindsey Deno said...

yea welcome to Indiana...I have lived here in Lafayette all my life and I'm still not used to it. And the umbrellas, I pretty much said forget it. I carry one in my backpack but even when it's raining I usually don't use it. It's too windy most of the time and I decided I can handle getting a little wet, or even drenched. It's better than dealing with a stupid umbrella.