You all know the perfect picnic weather, right? Bright, sunny day with a cool, gentle
breeze. Not too warm, not too cold. Colorful
flowers dotting the landscape with an occasional fluffy, white cloud dotting
the blue sky.
And if dark, gray clouds accompanied by a bitter, misty
gust come rumbling across the sky, everyone packs up and goes scurrying for
cover.
Well, not everyone.
Here in Saudi, where the scorching sun shines over the
desert land for most of the year, a gloomy, dreary forecast – which most of the
world despises - cheers up the locals and has them rushing out to the desert to
snatch up prime picnic real estate.
They get giddy when the forecast includes light
showers and a deep chill. When this type
of weather strikes (which typically will last for a day or two), many employees
call in sick, kids miss school, and college campuses are empty. Most of Riyadh can be found picnicking out in
the cool, wet desert.
During my first six years or so, I used to get a real kick
out of this phenomenon. I would laugh to
myself, ‘How in the world can one enjoy a picnic in such overcast, gloomy
weather?’
Only after having lived in the desert climate for almost
10 years have I begun to appreciate the citywide excitement when a cold, winter
shower hits the area. You see, it’s a
rare occasion, which brings with it the blessings of rain - much appreciated and
celebrated in this dry, arid land. It is
only in these rare moments that Saudis are able to bundle up, start up a nice,
warm campfire, and enjoy the wet, misty air with a cup of Arabic coffee.
And the occasional drizzle on their picnic is a source of joy instead of
dejection. The picnic temporarily
relocates into the vehicle, or a tent for the more adventurous intent on
camping out for the entire day, and everyone goes back out when the rain stops.
The ideal location for such a picnic is anywhere water
has collected, which is why you’ll find rain-induced lakes (really just glorified puddles) in the desert
surrounded by jeeps and trucks, with people huddled around a fire and children
playing in the sand.
Having grown up in Baltimore, I despised the cloudy,
rainy weather and was overjoyed when I initially moved to sunny Saudi. But it’s taken me almost 10 years to get over
my honeymoon with the sun and now I too get “misty”-eyed (see what I did
there?) when the weather turns gray and chill.
4 comments:
It's a unique situation when you come from a 'normal' weather environment, I suppose.
In my limited time in Makkah recently, I barely noticed the sky at all. There were a few days that seemed a bit cooler, and I was surprised to see a few clouds – but no rain.
AA- DL,
You are absolutely right about the weather in Mecca. Its actually quite different from the weather here in Riyadh. Whereas the weather in Mecca is directly affected by the Red sea, Riyadh is smack dab in the middle of the desert. And so, Mecca doesn't suffer from as cool a winter as Riyadh. For example, today's high in Mecca is 30degrees, while here it is 16degrees!
Also, the rainy weather we've been having here hasn't touched Mecca, which is a good 1000km away.
I can relate to this. Here in Johannesburg it gets really really hot in the Summer. But the usual trend is that the day will be scorching up until the late afternoon when thunder-clouds gather and the rain comes with cool wind and much needed relief. Today is no different.
I enjoy and like the sun, but I never complain about the soothing rain. It's much appreciated, especially on these hot days.
Interesting I didn't know about Saudis picnicking in Riyadh. I haven't seen that phenomenon here in Jeddah and these past few years we've had so much rain coming down, the streets always get flooded. No real opportunity to go out anywhere, much less picnic!
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