Thunderstorms in Sapa

After an unusually dry start to the month of May, the rains have finally come, water is back at the school and so are the students, oh and the teachers.  June and July are apparently the wettest months in North Vietnam, but there is a terrifyingly big and close thunderstorm most nights here now - great crashes in the middle of the night that wake me up and draw me to the window to see the fork lightning overhead.

Last night was the best fork lighting I have ever seen! It traveled the entire distance across the sky, sometimes hitting the mountains behind Sapa and illuminating the entire ridge but mainly littering the night sky with giant forks. I didn't take any pictures of videos but it looked a bit like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2o8tCGui_s

One of the other volunteers is here as part of her Geography Masters research trip and is spending her time interviewing mainly the Hill Tribes. This is to find out how much the local weather conditions have changed over the last few years, and how this has impacted on their crop production - especially the staple rice.  I don't know what her findings are yet, but when I find out I will post more information! I do know that Vietnam is one of the countries at high risk from climate change, with her long coastline, low-lying areas and dependence on agriculture nationwide. I found this report on the WorldBank website, and have only read the summary as the rest looks dense and long http://climatechange.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/documents/Vietnam-EACC-Social.pdf

But, now we have some rain:

• The rice paddies are full of light green tender shoot
• The corn in the school garden is 2 feet high
• And, my pumpkin, cucumber and bean sprouts have shot up to10cm in just 2 days!