Sunday, August 16, 2015

Hiking on a super humid and cloudy -- but thunderstorm-less! -- day

Don't the dark clouds look ominous?

This particularly when we ventured up to where
we encountered some low-lying clouds as fog!

Soon, however, we were below the clouds again
-- and able to see clearly once more ;)

Since I've done my share of calling out the Hong Kong Observatory when its weather forecasts have not been accurate, I figure I should give it credit on a day where its forecast turned out to be right on the money!  And this after I -- unfairly, as it turned out! -- wondered whether I should trust it at some points earlier in the day.

In fairness (to myself!): after having checked today's weather forecast this morning and decided that it'd be okay to go out for a hike this afternoon, I heard thundery rumblings as I walked over to the green minibus stop where a hiking friend and I were meeting up!  Then, early on in the hike, we noticed large dark clouds covering the tops of Mount Parker and Mount Butler -- the latter of which we had aimed to go up (along with nearby -- and not that much shorter despite the "Siu" (small) in its name, actually -- Siu Ma Shan) a bit later!

But although it was indeed super humid out there today, not a single raindrop ended up falling on us during the hike, never mind our getting caught in the thunderstorm we worried would come along despite the Hong Kong Observatory having said that it would not be the case.  Also, while some people might have thought otherwise after seeing how drenched we were this afternoon, truly it was due to our being bathed in sweat rather than having been made wet by any precipitation!

For the record: the humidity levels today were so high that not only did I end up perspiring a lot but a combination of it and the many steps we climbed up over the cause of today's hike also caused me to pant like I can't remember having done for quite some time!  Despite all this -- and visibility levels not being the greatest (since it was a pretty cloudy day) -- though, my friend and I agreed that we had spent a good afternoon out in the Hong Kong countryside, one which we are happy that we weren't moved to spend indoors after thinking that -- despite the Hong Kong Observatory's forecast -- it'd be as terribly rainy today as it has been in recent days! :b 

2 comments:

sarah bailey knight said...

Is there thunder and lightening on these occasions? Here in Vermont we watch the weather very carefully as lightening can be deadly.

YTSL said...

Hi sarah sbk --

There was some thunder early on in the hike -- and during that time, I made sure to pick trails that were NOT high up on the hills. But if there were any sign of lightning, I'd abort the hike. And that's why when I see "thunderstorms" in the weather forecast, I cancel hikes -- though I still will go out if the weather forecast includes just "a few showers". ;)