September 8th

We report not too long after sunset: this is what they call heat lightning - it is not heat lightning, it is simply very far away, further than it looks to be. The thunder is dissipating before we are able to hear any of it, much more fickle than the light show on the horizon.

September 7th

We report: it is impossible to predict the weather to come. There is a total absence of signs or hints as to any future precipitation or change in temperature. We are asking questions, and our expert is perplexed. The humongous cloud on the approach is absolutely no help.

September 6th

We report in the last bright moments of the afternoon: a little bit of the summer sun has returned today, that golden warmth that almost seems to come from inside us. Still, the ground is saturated with rain, and in the shade, the humidity is bright and tangible.

September 5th

We report: we think we know where the sun is going to rise from. The stakes are not very high on this bet, and we could simply use a compass to be certain; the fact of the matter is that we would like to see the sun emerge from behind these clouds, and know we were correct.

September 4th

We report: as we were looking for some constellation or the other, the mist slowly started to thicken. The moonlight was catching in it, making it easier to see the movements of the masses of humidity, patterns of smoke in the crisp night air. Our canvas shoes were getting wet.

September 3rd

We report three minutes after it stopped raining, and four minutes before it starts raining: we have never had such a clear understanding of the reason why cumulonimbus incus are called "anvil clouds". As we report, it is still expanding further against the tropopause.

September 2nd

We report: the clouds are shattering, breaking away piece by piece, and we are trying to listen for it. We can already feel the next bout of rain coming in - it is the wind again, impatient, unhappy to let the sky be after a whole summer of steady heat and naked blue.

September 1st

We report about the clouds that grew this tall only so they could get more light than everything, and everyone else. Our expert, shorter than we are, calls them greedy. We think they are practical. It is colder than it has been in months. Eventually, darkness falls everywhere.

August 31st

We report: a lone crow is picking at crabs and seaweed on the beach before a flock of gulls makes its loud appearance. The gale comes to die on the shore, gentle waves that rattle the pebbles. It was much windier at sunset. It seems a long way til sunrise yet.

August 30th

We report around noon, after most of the morning was occupied by series of showers. Our expert has been coming in and out of the rain, hopeful to get a good look at the side profile of the clouds; now, at last, the lull in weather is allowing mammatus to show.

August 29th

We report: far off the coast, warm and cold fronts are spinning into one another in cyclogenesis. Somehow, as a result of the flapping of these large butterfly wings, mare’s tails are multiplying in the sky, wherever it is coldest. There are talks of precipitation on the wind.

August 28th

We report at sundown: we saw the light change even as we were hearing rain on the rooftop, so we hurried out. It was not instantaneous; the rainbow appeared slowly, from left to right, and then it stayed for a long time, varying in its intensity. We watched it go, too.

August 27th

We report: the windows are streaked with early morning rain, drowning the clouds behind them. When we go out, a car almost immediately splashes us with gutter water, and we try very hard not to see it as a bad omen. It is not as cold as we had anticipated; the rain has stopped.

August 26th

We report one or two rain drops on the back of our hand, and certainly a handful more elsewhere that we have no evidence of. The clouds are still gathering, so nothing has started in earnest, but the horizon is a blur in the distance. We feel confident in what this entails.

August 25th

We report: we ask our expert what is the name of the arc above the sun, and a few minutes later, they are talking about the shape of ice crystals and their orientation. Amidst all this, we manage to obtain the name: upper tangent arc. We look at the sun dogs through our fingers.

August 24th

We report in late light: late August, and we are losing the sun faster. If only for that reason, the nights are not quite as warm when the darkness lingers for longer. The ground is covered in leaves fallen too soon, and our steps lift dust off the path; the season is turning.

August 23rd

We report: the stars came out easy in the night, with no moon to take over the sky. There is no traffic, no headlights to distract our eyes; our expert has brought their red torchlight. Within half an hour, we forget a world that is not the starry sky, and its timeless echoes.

August 21st

We report: here, the grass is still tall and green, and the bees are hopping from the camomiles to the thistles at the foot of hedgerows. The skylarks are equally busy, passing us time and time again as though they were making a game out of it. It smells warm and dry.

August 20th

We report from behind a hill: we cannot seem to get around this slope, and the sun is setting too fast. We are giving up on it with every inch that goes dark. Down here, the humidity left over from these few days of rain is alive and well, still seeping into the ground.

August 19th

We report: after the storm cleared out, the rain remained through twilight. It was quiet rain, the kind that blurs out edges and angles, white noise rather than a drumbeat. We see minuscule beads of water catching on our expert‘s hair as they refuse to put their hood up.