Nebel über dem Tal

From Durch Deutschland

I'm trying this. You might want to actually click the photo to see it in its entirely.

Nebelzauber

How do you know it is fall in Germany?

Look outside in the morning.

The past few days have been grey and dreary, but with hints of the bright summer still around. In the morning there is fog and everything is a little surreal as the visibility drops to 100-200 meters. There is something magical about fog though. I think I will enjoy living in San Francisco if I ever get there.

When the sun comes out, the fog burns away almost immediately. Literally 2-3 minutes and there was no fog at all left anywhere except deep in the valley. But right now--3 or 4 hours after dawn, the fog has somehow crept back as the air stays cool and the humidity rises. I don't really understand it actually. German weather is a mystery. But it's pretty. I wish I could go hiking right now though...

Wetter Voraussage

This is lovely:

Total mean temperature: 9,7°C
Days with highs above 25°C: 42
Days with highs above 30°C: 6
Days with lows below 0°C: 59
Total sunshine hours: 1,544
Total precipitation: 612mm
Days with precipitation: 204

Göttingen has turned into a refrigerator recently. Sadly, I think our
6 days of 30+ weather are passed now, but we're due more 25+, thank
goodness. FYI there should, in theory, be some 4380 hours of sunshine
when there are no clouds at all. So essentially, we get about 1/3 of
our due sunshine here. I wonder if that is better than Nashville?
Remember this spring's rainy Tuesday-Thursdays? I never had dry shoes
when I arrived in Wilson... stupid weather.

Also, I'm really skeptical about this winter thing. I don't think I've
ever spent more than a week somewhere with consistent lows under 0.
Fortunately, I discovered I can get a gym membership on the cheap at
the University here and it would be essentially on my walking path to
work. So perhaps I won't be getting too fat this winter with no biking
(isn't it ironic that people used to fatten up in summer to overwinter
whereas now it's often the opposite? or maybe humans have never really
done the hibernation thing.)

It better snow a lot this winter.. Supposedly they only get 1-2 snows
here, despite the cold weather. I'm going to be very sad if that is
the case. I also want to go ice skating on the lake here, so it better
freeze over.

Sommerschluß

Summer is officially over here. I was biking the other day and it kind of hit me. There's that early-October chill in the wind and, even though the leaves haven't turned, you can tell that the trees are tired.

das wetter: sommer erwärmung

it's officially hot. 30º+ for the past few days (despite the taunting 29º my weather monitor says). the humidity (schwüligkeit or feuchtigkeit; i like the former for reasons that would probably only be obvious to people who know german) isn't nearly as bad as nashville, but has become a limiting factor in ausblicken--i honestly can't think of the english word for that.

these goats—they actually look more like dogs! i was shocked for a minute when i saw them—discovered some shade by the roadside:

regen+fahrrad=unglück

excuse my word math. while i'm on the subject of weather:

this weekend was very wet. and cold. but when you are wet the cold just seems to come. especially when you are on a bicycle trying to get home as fast as possible so your camera won't be flooded.

at first it promised to be a nice day with not too much in the way of weather. but then, right as i left the city proper, a lovely storm front blew in and swept across the valley. this one didn't get me, but i saw it coming and biked a little faster to get out of its way.


i think i missed it by just a few hundred meters


a nice, if barely visibile rainbow ensued, reminding me of my eminent visit to regenbogensburg which i am very excited about (elaine, hurry up and leave!!).


in my over confidence that the rain was over for the moment, i went ahead and did some hiking and discovered this very interesing teepee-like thing. inside were some candles and the remnants of what looks like a pagan ritual. i was acually a little scared when i came upon it because i thought it might actually be someone's home. it has kind of a my side of the mountain feel. it was quite deserted though, and i decided my adventures here were over (although if i had thought about getting down, i wouldn't have been so hasty).

coming down. the beautiful fields, the shining sun. the looming clouds...

during a 5 minute rain shower, i took refuge under a tree near some cows. they didn't really seem amused by my attempts to get their attention ("mooooo").

and then the real storm arrived. i think this is actually the only picture i have, because i very quickly put my camera away. the rain came in two waves and i tried at first to stop and let it pass by hiding under trees and awnings, but eventually i just gave up and tucked my camera in a plastic bag and biked for it. needless to say, i arrived at home very wet and cold and hungry and more than a little grumpy.

but i discovered some more raspberries and some plums! so alle's gut!

wetter

isn't it ironic that 'weather' in germany is 'das wetter'? i find this hilarious.

in case you were wondering. it's raining.


not actually from today, but definitely captures the look of the past few days.