The Rain, the Park and Other Things

Typhoon Fitow is apparently going to clobber Japan over the next couple of days. Here in Mokpo, we were worried the storm would cross the island and hit the southern tip of the Korean peninsula.If the models hold true, however, all we'll see is a little rain. Here's the latest projection from Weather Underground:

It's already been raining for a few days, though I don't know what that has to do with the typhoon. Maybe it's just that time of year? Fortunately, the temperatures have dropped almost twenty degrees, almost overnight: from the 90's into the 70's. Unfortunately, the rain has prevented us from leaving the house. (BTW: Jamie [North Carolina] totally called this one. We hung out with him and Leah on Thursday of last week. When we complained about the heat he said, "Don't worry, when it changes, it'll be like somebody flipped a switch." And he was right- two days later that switch was flipped and it is blessedly cool, if a little very damp.)

Oh yeah... Rachel's pregnant! We're expecting our first child on March 13, 2008. She's at about three months now and we are both very excited. Wish us luck!

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

One of Rachel's students told her it would rain for the next month or so. Hyperbole? That's what I thought, until I did some research. From Asianinfo.org:

The rainy season over Korea, the so-called changma season, continues for a month from late June until late July. A short period of rainfall comes in early September when the monsoon front retreats back from the north. This rain occurs over a period of 30-40 days in June through July at all points of South Korea... and accounts for more than 50% of annual precipitation at most stations... The southern coastal and its adjacent mountain regions have the largest amount of annual precipitation which is over 1,500 mm (60 inches).

So, a little math here: in one month we'll get half of the country's annual rainfall? That's just peachy.

But wait, there's more! According to Nations Encyclopedia,

From one to three mild typhoons normally strike the south in the early fall, with a severe one occurring every two or three years.

Rachel's reaction, minus the flash-flood of profanity, "I guess I'm not getting a bike until October."