


Gordon: The Azores must have one of the most gentle climates on earth. I did a little research and learned that in the largest town, Ponta Delgada on São Miguel, it has never been colder than 4 degrees Celsius, or hotter than 29. The normal daily range is perhaps 12 to 17 degrees in January, and 21 to 26 in July. There is a few degrees variation between the islands, and a few more degrees at higher elevations, but overall the temperatures are always quite mild.
During the six weeks that we have been here it has always been between 17 and 25 degrees: shirtsleeve weather even at breakfast time. However, we are slowly seeing the change of the seasons. This is principally reflected in the increasing cloud cover and precipitation. We are now at the point where the 10 day forecast shows some rain every day. A few weeks ago we were dismayed to see predictions of days on end of rain, but we have now recalibrated our expectations. It turns out that a forecast with a high probability of precipitation each hour really means that there will probably be a shower at some point, and sunny breaks at other times. The forecasts seem to be consistently pessimistic.
The forecast for today was for high winds, with significant precipitation. It did blow at more than 40 kms per hour all day, and we did have some brief, intense showers in the morning. Armed with my developing skepticism of the forecasts, I waited until the showers stopped, and went out for an 18 km walk. While I did bring a hat and a rain jacket, I required neither. The wind made the walk quite dramatic at times, but no further rain fell. There were even a few glimpses of the sun, and the temperature was about 22 degrees all day.
I hope that our luck continues such that we are able to spend most of the daylight hours outside during our remaining days in the Azores.





