World Weather - It worth checking your destination's climate before booking dates.



 

 

Venice suffered another flooding this week-end the highest tidal high water mark since 2008.  Heavy Rain plus high tides and strong winds rather than rising sea levels or sinking Venice are to blame we are told.  We will have to wait until 2014 I believe before the currently delayed opening of a flood gate system to protect the city. 

The US East coast and the Caribbean have had hurricane Sandy and follow up storms that have left the US East Coast in chaos .  However, at least the US Mid-West states are not claiming that the hurricane is  God's punishment on the "Blue" East and North East States for voting for President Obama's re-election!  Not yet anyway!

Closer to home, I was interested to hear from a Spanish waiter friend at my local cafe that he is delighted to be in drizzly, damp Chelsea, because where he comes from in Southern Spain the weather at preseant is absolutely foul!

I recall being in Mauritius and being told by the hotel management that the residents were "very lucky" to be there to witness a cyclone.  Hopeful marketing ploy perhaps?  I would describe the event more as being "interesting" as we watched the beach disappear under tumultuous surf and paddled through the open common parts of the hotel under wind bucking brollies.  Mauritius is a long way to go to experience something one can usually "enjoy" back home quite regularly.

Well I guess the point of these wanderings is to commend would be tourists to always check out independent weather overviews of the climate in any destination you are considereing visiting.  Don't rely on travel agents' brochures - do a little bit of online checking about local weather at the time of year you are planning to go before committing hard earned holiday funds to somewhere just because the beach or country looks great in the brochure.    Also just because a beach destination is in a region that you have always believed to be hot have a look at sea temperature charts  - The UK Met Office have a good one on :
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/monitoring/climate/surface-temperature/oceans-and-seas
Dubai and Taba have cold water in the winter months which came as a complete surprise to me when I tried out a dip.  A hot beach and sand does not always equate to warm sea water! Other water temp. sources are often found on Scuba Diving sites.

I was however expecting cold water when I went to stay in Cape Town. If you check out pics for famous C.T. beaches like Llandudno you will see that invariably whilst the beach is crowded the water isn't!    When asking where they swam in Cape Town......  Oh! they said "Warmer Water?" just go round the to Muizenberg on the other side of the "False Cape".  It's more protected there from the Atlantic.  Well I would have had to have gone several hundred miles up the East coast towards Plettenburg before anything like warmish water occured to tempt my toes.  Cape Town is a great place to visit but not for a traditional beach holiday.  By the way when we got to Muizenberg  beach, the beautiful silver beach sand was flying horizontally off the beach and covering the coastal road and car parks - I joked that if we had left the hire car there for a couple of hours it would have been sand-blasted back to the metal!

Muizenberg Beach (©South African Tourism )

Its definitely worth researching your proposed destination yourself rather than relying on adverts and brochures.   Check the seasonal weather patterns and water As they say in the Army, "Time in reconaissance is seldom wasted"!

PS Apologies for being "Off Air" since mid Oct...