[Self] Pondering About Rain
Coming from Msia that rains quite frequently, I never really did think H2O falling out from the sky until reaching Riyadh.
In Msia, rain is relatively frequent and relatively heavy. A reinvigorated freshness hangs in the air especially after a heavy downpour. UNLESS its one of those light rains in a hot afternoon that only serves to release more heat into the air, resulting in a more humid effect, which results in a more stickier & smellier cram-like-hell epsiode on the LRT.
In Msia, rain is also the a great reminder that the Malaysian Smart Tunnel is actually dumb as hell (it closes down everytime there's rain resulting in a massive jam); rain is also the time when the LRT management people call up their PR reps to create writeups in anticipation of a LRT failure (especially the underground links).
Rain in countries blessed by 4 seasons, especially during winter (incl early spring + late autumn) are the nicest. I have particularly a great fondness for sniffing the crispiness that lingers in the air after a shower, and enjoy the simple pleasure of deep inhalations that have a nice chilly taste*.
*Although deeply inhaling in CQ thinking that the smog was actually mist and vapor was a major mistake.
But all those feelings are so much more distincitve in Riyadh. Rain is rare here, and for the times that it has rained, rain has actually a foul, putrid, smell. The best I can try to describe the smell of rain here is as below:
- Get a hairdryer and an old carpet (must be dirty, dusty lots).
- Select an area 1m x1m and blowdry it for a few hours. Take a sniff and remember that smell.
- Keep the area of the old carpet blowdried and hot, then quickly sprinkle a few drops of water (not pour, sprinkle).
- Now, in that split second where extreme dryness comes into contact water, you get this weird moment of smell where moisture is 'corrupted' by the smell of extreme dryness. Imagine via some CG effect of water droplets on a molecular level being enveloping by sand & dust from the atmospheric dryness ... and that poor molecule releases a vapour of protest in the form of that foul, putrid smell....
Pic: This is part of tree. There's so much sand that the rain washed it down and they settled in the leaves.
The only time this was different was last weekend where there was essential a storm Thursday night, followed by drizzles the entire Friday. For that weekend, yeah the air smelt great; but by Saturday it was gone. What remained were pools of stagnant water on roads, roadsides etc as there aren't really drains in Riyadh - mainly because you don't need drains in the middle of a dessert anyway.
Pics below: Stagnating pools of water that eventually took a few days to clear up (it's not blasting summer yet)
In Msia, rain is relatively frequent and relatively heavy. A reinvigorated freshness hangs in the air especially after a heavy downpour. UNLESS its one of those light rains in a hot afternoon that only serves to release more heat into the air, resulting in a more humid effect, which results in a more stickier & smellier cram-like-hell epsiode on the LRT.
In Msia, rain is also the a great reminder that the Malaysian Smart Tunnel is actually dumb as hell (it closes down everytime there's rain resulting in a massive jam); rain is also the time when the LRT management people call up their PR reps to create writeups in anticipation of a LRT failure (especially the underground links).
Rain in countries blessed by 4 seasons, especially during winter (incl early spring + late autumn) are the nicest. I have particularly a great fondness for sniffing the crispiness that lingers in the air after a shower, and enjoy the simple pleasure of deep inhalations that have a nice chilly taste*.
*Although deeply inhaling in CQ thinking that the smog was actually mist and vapor was a major mistake.
But all those feelings are so much more distincitve in Riyadh. Rain is rare here, and for the times that it has rained, rain has actually a foul, putrid, smell. The best I can try to describe the smell of rain here is as below:
- Get a hairdryer and an old carpet (must be dirty, dusty lots).
- Select an area 1m x1m and blowdry it for a few hours. Take a sniff and remember that smell.
- Keep the area of the old carpet blowdried and hot, then quickly sprinkle a few drops of water (not pour, sprinkle).
- Now, in that split second where extreme dryness comes into contact water, you get this weird moment of smell where moisture is 'corrupted' by the smell of extreme dryness. Imagine via some CG effect of water droplets on a molecular level being enveloping by sand & dust from the atmospheric dryness ... and that poor molecule releases a vapour of protest in the form of that foul, putrid smell....
Pic: This is part of tree. There's so much sand that the rain washed it down and they settled in the leaves. The only time this was different was last weekend where there was essential a storm Thursday night, followed by drizzles the entire Friday. For that weekend, yeah the air smelt great; but by Saturday it was gone. What remained were pools of stagnant water on roads, roadsides etc as there aren't really drains in Riyadh - mainly because you don't need drains in the middle of a dessert anyway.
Pics below: Stagnating pools of water that eventually took a few days to clear up (it's not blasting summer yet)
posted by keensoon at
Friday, April 10, 2009
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