It might be of interest to someone....

I didn't think I had much to write about! But here I am again! Not bad when you put your mind to it! Off goes the televsion, music on (Mumford and Sons tonight) and there we go. I wonder how long this will last! This will probably be it for the week! I've got my neighbours worried I might divulge some of their antics! [snigger] You know who you are!

YAY!! Mama and Daddy Books are about to book to come and see us next year! Along with a couple of sets of friends coming over it's going to be a lovely spring! We decided that we were travelling so much 09/10, we really missed spending the best time of the year in Oman. But I guess it was the first full year we have been here so felt we needed to go back.

So we're in autumn now and I can start to see the weather is changing. The temperature is a little more comfortable (not by much though, humidity still gets me...and my hair) but you can really see the difference over the mountains. They're not set in a permanent dust haze, they're looking really clear and magnificent! They are the first impression I had of this country as we flew into Muscat International in November '08 so are really special. As much as I love being near the beach and the sea, there is something quite humbling driving through the mountains.

And as many of you know I like to think of weather/geography as my speciality. Although I seemed to have had most of my memory wiped by Motherhood...Husband probably knows more than I do, in fact, I'm sure he does. About everything. But hey, that doesn't stop a Spotter spotting, does it?!

So anybody want to get to know the climate here? Anyone interested? Oh, please don't go! COME BACK!!! OK, just humour me and it'll all be over in a few minutes!

Muscat, Oman

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Month	Average Sunlight (hours)	Temperature				Discomfort from heat and humidity	Relative humidity		Average Precipitation (mm)	Wet Days (+0.25 mm)
		Average		Record
		Min	Max	Min	Max		am	pm
Jan	9	19	25	11	31	Medium	72	71	28	2
Feb	10	19	25	12	32	Medium	73	73	18	1
March	9	22	28	17	42	Medium	71	70	10	1
April	11	26	32	19	41	High	64	68	10	1
May	12	30	37	24	44	Extreme	58	60	0	0
June	12	31	38	26	47	Dangerous	72	72	3	0
July	9	31	36	25	45	Extreme	77	77	0	0
Aug	10	29	33	24	42	Extreme	82	80	0	0
Sept	11	28	34	23	42	Extreme	75	77	0	0
Oct	10	27	34	21	41	Extreme	69	74	3	0
Nov	10	23	30	17	36	High	69	72	10	1
Dec	9	20	20	16	33	-	70	71	18	2

Note the 'Dangerous' level of discomfort from heat and humididty in June! So we're not being rude when we say don't visit during the summer! And although the record in the summer has been recorded at 47, this is probably the offical recording. Husband and I can vouch that it reached at least 50C last summer.

At this time and in the spring, we can never say what the weather will do day to day because it is usually a battle of the desert wind and the sea wind - think of the country's location and situation. So when the desert wind takes over, the temperature shoots up but it is a dry heat and is actually bearable. When the sea wind takes over the humidity increases as the water content in the air has increased. That's why you'd see more in the way of clouds on a humid day. Needless to say, it can feel very unpleasant.

The northern part of Oman consists of the Jebel Akhdar, a mountain range rising to just over 3,000 m/10,000 ft. The annual rainfall on the higher parts of the Jebel Akhdar probably exceeds 400 mm/20 in. In the rest of Oman the annual rainfall is below 125 mm/5 in except in the hills of Dhofar in the extreme south.

Along the south coast the cloudy rainy season is between June and September, but in the Jebel Akhdar and in the lowlands of the north rain may fall at any time of the year. Very occasionally a tropical cyclone in the Arabian Sea brings a spell of very wet, windy weather to the coast of Oman and this may cause damage through wind and flood. Google Gonu and Phet!

Temperatures and humidity are high throughout the year on the coast and the period May to September is the hottest and most unpleasant season. Temperatures rise even higher inland towards the Rub' al Khali, but here humidity is lower so that the high temperatures are more tolerable and the nights are cooler.

The following bar chart for Muscat, Oman shows the years average weather condition readings covering rain, average maximum daily temperature and average minimum temperature.

All the above info is courtesy of the Beeb weather site. Although I wouldn't trust them. They have had all sorts working for that department ;-)

There you go! Painless, huh? HUH??? Am I really that boring...?

I've had my weather fix now, although I'm teaching year 3/4 weather around the world tomorrow in Geography! YES! They're doing a presentation on anabatic and katabatic winds next week. Joke.

Anyone have Arcade Fire's new album (probably several months old now....)?

Why have I not seen Glee until now???!! The College Football players dancing to Beyonce was just classic television. Loved it!

PS I would post this evening's sunset picture but my lens was filthy *slap wrist* so I'll sort it out and maybe post it tomorrow.

Take care, y'all.