So, how 'bout this weather, huh?

Lots and lots of people in Taiwan think that Taichung has the best weather. They'll tell you this as a matter of simple fact. "You live in Taichung? Oh yes, the weather there is very good. The best in Taiwan." For a long time, I was a little confused about this. But today I understood.

You see, Taiwan is a tropical island. Actually, it's sub-tropical and tropical. The line runs right through Taiwan in the southern part. It's a tiny island with an enormous mountain range running up its spine. I mean really huge. Taiwan is only about 100 miles wide, but the mountains reach excesses of 10,000 feet. Those mountains and Taiwan's place in the Pacific makes for some bad weather. In some places.

I always thought Taichung seemed kind of hot, dirty, and too dry. In the miserable summer months, the temperature is always a few degrees higher here than Taipei. Also, Taichung is slightly inland, with mountains of various sizes on three sides--so lots of the pollution generated here (and there's more than enough) hangs in the air on bad days. The other major cities are all closer to the sea. And whereas we go long stretches without rain, northern parts of Taiwan see afternoon rain showers often throughout the year.

So I took issue with the "best weather" thing. But today on the news, I see that northern and southern Taiwan are still getting flooding from some rain that fell this week. Taipei is still cleaning up after Typhoon Aere last month totally covered parts of that city in water. The east coast, on the Pacific side of the mountains (which is stunningly beautiful compared to the megalopolis that stretches out on Taiwan's western plains), always gets absolutely shit on during typhoon season. And the mountainous regions are prone to massive landslides after heavy rains. And in the middle of all this, is Taichung (which means "Central Taiwan") just sits and smiles benignly on the misery that surrounds her this time of year.

Taichung doesn't have the best weather because it's the mildest and most pleasant. It's the best weather because the weather-related disasters that ruin other bits of the island on a regular basis simply never make it here.

And that's your weather for today. Now, back to Veronica in the studio.