Traveling Ninja Notes: A Sudden Storm

When I first got to New Plymouth and was finding my way around town and meeting lots of new people, I would often get asked if it snows where I grew up. Then I would hear about the one time a few years ago when it snowed in town (the mountain is frequently covered in snow, but it is too warm in town, it hardly gets below freezing), just enough to have a light dusting on the ground, but that was enough to halt all driving, and send people home from work and school halfway through the day.

Having been here for nearly 18 months now, I have grown accustomed to the warmer temperatures (especially now that it is Spring, yay!), so I was just as surprised as the local when the weather took an unexpected turn one day last week.

I always leave work right at 4pm on Wednesdays so that I am home in time to teach a piano lesson. Right about 3:30 last Wednesday, the sunny day suddenly went to dreary dark cloudy. By 3:50 it had gotten quite windy and was starting to rain. By 4:07 when I was nearly halfway home, it was pouring buckets of rain and then it started to hail. By the time I reached downtown, traffic was nearly at a standstill and there was increasing amount of standing water everywhere (it was still raining) because the pea-sized hail was clogging the drains.
It took me half an hour to get home that day (it normally takes 10-12 depending whether the lights are red or green). I must say I was impressed with how drivers handled the weather. Everyone slowed down and was extra cautious and mindful of everyone else, which was quite relieving.

According to the newspaper in the next couple days, there were no major accidents, but downtown did experience a significant amount of flooding. Since the drains started clogging, water just ran up on the sidewalks and then into stores restaurants, anywhere. The storm was over in about an hours time, but even now you can see places just starting to dry out or get cleaned up from all the water.