What’s With The Weather

It’s not even May yet (not when I began this column) and we are already fending 85 degrees plus temperatures. Why can’t Spring feel like Spring for at least one month? Where are the days with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s? I want those for awhile.

Atlanta meteorologists have forecasted that this week will bring the highest temperatures we’ve experienced in Georgia since October 2018—well into the 80s, quite near the 90s. But hark there is rain in the forecast. Now rain I don’t mind a bit. Just like the sun, the Earth needs it and with summer-like temperatures I am all for it. But also being a water sign could make me partial to the raindrops, however to counteract that theory I was a summer baby but the most heated months of the year fall in my bottom two of seasons.

Now it’s not that I don’t like the summer, I don’t care for the heat and excess humidity that comes with summers in the Southeast, unlike summers in the Southwest which typically have dryer humidity. I dislike those days walking outside and feeling like a thin layer of plastic has just enveloped me and it’s on those days that drive my water bill up from excessive showering.

I don’t care for excessive heat or cold. Born and raised in the south, one would think I would be used to it but I’ve just grown restless of it. I could do like the northern retirees and head north for summers and come back for their winter because as much as I like some snow days and some chilly temperatures I wouldn’t last long in negative degree weather.

I like having four seasons but I love spring and fall best, particularly the latter. And I feel like I was robbed of many of those crisp yet sunny days in 2018. My sister Karen loves the summer and darn near has a psychological breakdown every year as fall rolls in. Go figure. Now I like the sun and all the warmth and life it brings us, we need it for sure, but I like it in moderation. Summers in the south can be torrid, especially now that global warming is in full effect.

Yes I believe in global warming. Even when Al Gore made it part of his political platform way back in the 90s when I was just a teen, I believed. I remember then reading articles and listening to broadcasts that deemed him some kind of “nature spook” because he dared to say that some of our everyday habits (excess pollution, poor recycling, etc.) were contributing strongly to the state of our planet and its climate. As of recent, with all the climatalogists warning us of the increasingly warmer sea beds that have led to increased hurricane, tsunami, and tornado activities over the past decade—I am still a believer.

I have always told my kids that one day, when I want to hack the winters and overheated summers anymore, we are going to move to a consistent climate that never gets higher than 80 degrees or lower than 50 degrees and it will not be California. Why not Cali? Because deep in the recesses of my mind it’s going to be an island one day when the fault line shifts and I don’t want to be there when it does.

Some ideal places for us would be central Ecuador near the town of Loja, known as the “Valley Of Smiles.” The daily average there is the mid-70s pretty much all year long. Then there is Stellenbosch, South Africa where the average annual high is 71 and the average annual low is 50, that is perfect for me!

Now life on the Mediterranean has always been on my radar. The culture and landscape could make for some great tales of frolic but summers there can be iffy at times too. However partaking in the local vino and afternoon siestas could make digesting the heat more bearable .

The Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Western Africa, sounds appealing as well. Because of a unique convergence of ocean currents and other island effects, the towns on the southern and western coasts run summer highs barely topping 80 while the winter highs still regularly climb into the 70s.It’s nicknamed “Land of Eternal Spring.”

So as you can tell I’ve done a bit of homework on this “perfect climate” matter as well as how it correlates economically. But until I make my move I’ll just endure the usual Georgia heat and humidity.