American in Spain

February Hurricane

February 27, 2010
23 C in February

The weather today has been very, very odd. Everyone is using the word huracán for what is in store for us tonight. Nora and I spent much of the afternoon outside in the unseasonably warm temperatures and brisk breeze. We saw several dumpsters that had been tied down to keep them in place. There were a few strange occurrences, such as when it rained from a perfectly blue sky. Empty sky from which rain was falling

This is what the sky looked like when it was raining. The rain must have been leaving a cloud several kilometers away and then blowing towards us to reach its final destination of our heads.

At night fall we got a call from Marga at home telling us to rush home because the wind was picking up and sometimes in storms like this shingles (big terracotta Spanish shingles!) can come loose and crash to the ground, easily crushing any skulls below. Just as I hung up with her, a huge gust came that almost blew Nora's stroller over. We ran home immediately leaning into the wind.

23 C in February

The temperature, which had been between 15º and 19º C all day rose sharply at dusk to 23° C. Whatever it was, it was coming...

Once home, Marga and I were looking out the window at plastic bags flying about violently up at our level of the sixth floor. Then, all of a sudden, a big thud, and then a big piece of something slammed into the angled window that I was staring out, scaring me half to death, before tumbling over the edge of the building.

Broken piece of my building

It fell right where Nora and I had been a few minutes earlier. It seems like it miraculously fell between two vehicles.

We raced upstairs (our apartment has two floors) to see where the piece broke off. And there we saw only one twirly vent thing where there used to be two.

Where piece broke off

Where the piece broke off.

Our building is particularly noisy in windy conditions, so we expect to spend the night huddled in bed hoping the rest of the building doesn't break apart. A hurricane in February!