Our first Black Rainstorm

Wednesday was a very exciting day for the kids. They woke up to discover they had a school cancellation due to rain! That's right, our kids don't have snow days or fog days, they have rain days.

We had been having thunderstorms off and on up until that day, but around 5 am, the thunder a new kind of loud. The kids usually sleep through everything, but this was enough to wake them up. Our duplex has floor-to-ceiling windows on both levels, and we overlook the water, so when it lightnings, everything really lights-up. The windows also shake in the wind or rattle some in the thunder, it has something to do when the typhoon-stability system (I am told). The storms are called "black rainstorms" because the sky is black and visibility is completely lost. These are independent of typhoon rains. A "black rainstorm" warning is issued when the rain is falling, or expected to fall, at 70mm per hour (about 3 inches). 

The rain let up by around 11:00am, and we just experienced "regular" thunderstorms off and on the rest of the day. We weren't in any danger of mudslides, however, the Northern Territories, which are about 45 minutes away, can have them (again, I am told). Our mountains have cement drainage systems that help clear the water quickly off the slopes and funnel it down and out to the sea. The system seems to work very well because when I looked at the cement sections, it appeared that a fire hydrant was open and at full blast. 

Anyways, a friend of mine found this video online showing the rain coming in. I thought I would share it with everyone so you have an idea of what this type of rain looks like. The HK airport is about fifteen minutes, by bus, from our place. It is just over the mountains behind us, so it's probably only about 1-2 miles away, but don't quote me on that!

Hong Kong airport Black Rainstorm You should click on the highlighted section and a box should appear for you to click on to watch the YouTube video. 

Hope you enjoyed today's cultural experience!