While it doesn't look like a big storm if you just look outside, we are getting battered pretty hard right now.

85kph+ winds are whipping through Costa Rica. That's enough to be breaking off fairly large limbs, and in our case has already flattned two of our three banana trees (dangit!). 85 works out to pretty close to 50mph, and is a "Strong Gale" on the Beaufort Scale. There are gusts that are probably higher, it would only take another 20mph before we hit "Hurricane Force". Yikes.

Rooftops are flyin, roofing tiles are flyin, and our house literally has dunes of dusty dirt forming in some areas. Impressive.

The odd thing is that without rain, the sun is shining, the temperatures are pleasant, it is hard to really see this as a "storm" in the traditional sense. Unfortunately, I get the impression that some really serious damage is happening to agriculture and some buildings. Doubtlessly the sportfisherman, sailing tours, surfing lessons and other tourist-related industry is getting a whuppin'.

We are holding tight, putting some water on the stuff that looks most stressed, and hoping for the best. Rumor has it that we might even seen rain tonight! Which would be awesome for our garden, but a real surprise based on the eight years we've lived here in which we don't remember seeing much in the way of clouds in February, let alone precipitation.

Labels: garden, weather