Weather

The weather here takes some getting used to for a Minnesota girl like me. India is north of the equator, but much closer to it than America is. This means that the summers are hot and the winters are mild. When I first arrived in Delhi, the heat was almost unbearable for me, and I was told that it could have been a lot hotter. However, upon arriving in Himachal Pradesh, it was a lot nicer. Granted, it has frequently been hotter than I'd like, being at a much higher elevation keeps the weather cooler. To my understanding, winter here doesn't really get below freezing often, but it is still cold enough to be a bother when you don't have any kind of central heating. I need to get a space heater sometime before then.

This time of year is monsoon season, and this area is rated for the second highest annual rainfall in the country. It rains at least once a day and is humid the rest of the time. I left my laundry out to dry under my overhang yesterday afternoon and it's still not dry yet. I hope it doesn't mold. Today, it has been raining pretty constantly since well before dawn, but other days there is only a morning shower and the sky clears up by lunch time. The rainy season runs through the summer and into September. Last year, it lasted well into October. Here, however, it does rain some outside of monsoon season as well.

Unfortunately for me, my 100 rupee umbrella I bought in Delhi broke after only three uses. I hear there is a man up in Dharmshala that can repair umbrellas, so I will need to visit him, or get myself a new one, pretty soon.