Waiting for the Storm

There’s a big storm blowing in. Thunder in the distance. Finally, rain.

I was told the rainy season starts in June and lasts through October. I was told it would rain every day, not all day but every day. It has rained exactly five times during the 18 weeks I’ve been in Dakar. OK, that’s not precisely true because it did rain a couple of times when I was out of the country. But this has been the driest rainy season I’ve ever experienced. When it rains, it rains hard. The three times in July when it rained, the roads, which are mostly not paved and very uneven, filled with water that remained for as long as a week. This standing water is the breeding ground for malaria-bearing mosquitoes.

We’re two weeks into August and this is the first time there have been clouds that are threatening. And it’s sincerely threatening…moving closer…lightening flashing and thunder crashing in the distance. The dogs are going nuts. Just yesterday I commented to someone that I was concerned about what the potential damage of this dry spell on the crops.

I’m a fan of violent weather. Growing up on the Kansas prairie, it was just a part of life. Summer meant thunderstorms and tornadoes. Much to Mom’s chagrin, I liked to open my windows during storms and watch the trees blow, lighting up with each flash. The air cooled down drastically. Sometimes it hailed. The next morning, the yard was always full of small branches and twigs from the wind. Sometimes the tornado alarm sounded and we raced to the basement to wait for the “all clear” signal.

Everything changes when a thunderstorm is moving in. Rright now, the temperature is dropping quickly now and it’s getting very still. The neighborhood dogs are barking, probably because they hear the thunder that I can’t hear. The bugs and the birds have gone silent. The sky is getting darker and darker.

I hope it rains…soon and hard.