Today's forecast: monsoon

Right now, Lizzy and I are sitting on our lovely broad balcony two floors hovering above the street and it is pouring with rain. This is no sissy rain mind you. It’s a good ol’ huge droplet, high wind, pummeling that is starting to become a daily occurrence.

We’ve come through the dry season which goes from November to April and the hottest month of the year, April, and now we’re through the one month transition to rainy season. The rains will continue to intensify and get longer over the next few months until they crest in September.

One might think it is inconvenient and nasty, as in, “Oh, it’s monsoon season, how terrible!” But I find it terribly refreshing and somewhat exciting. I like rain, and I love big thunderstorms. Looks like I won’t be disappointed. It’s cool out now, like low 70 degrees Fahrenheit, so it’s a very welcome relief to the heat which daily seems to scrape the paint off 95 degrees or sometimes more. Add in the heat index, which is a formula that considers both temperature and humidity to arrive at what it actually feels like. 95F usually translates to 110F or more.

But you know something, you adapt. I’m generally pretty comfortable here. There are times when it feels hot, particularly when the air is not moving. The businesses here have strategically placed fans and sometimes air conditioning that increase one’s personal comfort. Generally speaking, I think I’ve just said “yes” to the heat instead of resisting it.

This storm will pass and the temp will pick up again, but it’s 5:30pm and we’ll probably land around 75F overnight. From my colleagues at work I understand that the rains will be in the afternoon for the first couple of months, but then gradually move into the evening and overnight hours, and eventually, after a couple months, the rains will happen every day in the morning.

Rain is good. The Mekong floods and Tonle Sap Lake expands to nine times its dry season size – nine times! It brings an abundance of fish from upstream in Lao, Thailand and China which feed this country the protein it needs. And the rains grow rice and other crops that are vital to the Cambodian people.

But rain can be a hardship on certain populations. Here in Phnom Penh it is a daily ritualistic inconvenience. Plastic sheets come out, people run for cover, ponchos abound. Life keeps moving, albeit a bit slower. But in the country the rains bring a mixed blessing of a rich harvest of fish and rice, but major inconveniences of washed out roads that remain impassable sometimes for weeks and months.

Keep up with the weather at www.weather.com and simply type in Phnom Penh, or you can look on this blog in the righthand column for a quick link.