I’m glad you asked – how’s the weather?
Okay, show of hands. How many of you think Viet Nam is hot and steamy? You know, as in “the steaming jungles of Viet Nam.”
Two, five, eleven - - yep, most of you think Viet Nam is hot and steamy.
And, you would be correct much of the time. But, not all the time.
The weather throughout the country is strongly affected by the monsoons. Contrary to popular belief, the “monsoon” is not the wet season itself, but rather the whole system of wet and dry winds. In Viet Nam, the monsoons drift north and south so that the wet season occurs in different places at different times. The wetness also affects temperatures and humidity. For instance, the hottest time of the year in Saigon (the south ) is April and May. The wet season begins in June (or so) and that tempers the temperature. Please don’t confuse “tempers” with cool - Saigon has two temperature descriptors. It is either hot or hotter. It is never cool in Saigon.
But Hue is well north of Saigon. Yes indeed, it gets cool here, When we arrived in February, it was downright cold. You may wonder how fifty five degrees translates into being cold.
Fifty five is cold because of the humidity. Throughout the country, the humidity is always high. A day with 80% humidity is “dry.” Warm, hot, or cold – the humidity compounds all the other weather senses.
The rainy season in Hue is in the late fall, mainly November and December. That is when the torrential downpours occur. Last November, there was some serious flooding here in Hue as the rains were heavier than normal. But rain occurs during the rest of the year. My students like to describe the weather as “changeable.” True enough, it can be sunny and 90 degrees one day, then the next could be like today. It is dreary, misty, and chilly. I will wear a poncho when I pedal my bike to class today. It has been like this for three days now. Not only is it gloomy, but the wetness affects the electrical power and the phone lines. The lights dim often as power surges come and go. Our telephone line (and our Internet connection) is iffy as the junction box gets wet and our line shorts out. Tomorrow – who knows? It may be sunny and 90 tomorrow. I have no television, and I don’t understand Vietnamese, so I can’t watch the news and weather on the tube. I just wake up in the morning, peek out the window, and get my own weather forecast – its damp outside, so it will rain today.
The humidity is the constant. The humidity accounts for the mold-ravaged walls you see on most buildings. Anything made from iron is badly corroded. Moss grows on the shaded sides of most trees, buildings, walls, and other object that blocks the sun. The humidity rots leather, and eats wood. It is perpetually clammy in Viet Nam.
Today is damp and gloomy. We have been told by many that the spring season of cool misty days has persisted longer than normal this year, and that soon, Hue will be hot – and sticky.
And when it is hot, the jungles are steamy.