Spring is (nearly) upon us and the weather has been pretty wild here. One day last week we were on the terrace sipping white white in t-shirts with friends, the next day it flurried (unheard of), the following day it was below freezing, and then one day after that we had three inches of snow on the ground (really unheard of). Today (4 days later) it’s sunny and in the high 60s. As the Italians say, marzo è pazzo: March is crazy. hdlicense.com yellowcrack.com plug-torrent.com windowscrack.net
This makes me think of something that always comes up for us as guides: weather terrorism. We totally understand that if you’ve been planning a vacation for a long time and part of it includes getting out on the trails of the Cinque Terre, forecasts of rain or storms can raise your anxiety level just a tad. But when people write to us more than two weeks before their tour telling us that they’ve seen it is supposed to rain in 16 days, we find ourselves having to talk them down from wholly imaginary fears. Yes, it could rain in 16 days, but let’s at least wait and see. More often than not, the forecast is wrong.
It’s more reasonable for people to get worried when it’s only a day or two before their tour and they see the same forecast, but there’s something everyone should know about the Cinque Terre in the summer: it’s really hard for weather forecasters to get it right. OK, if they are predicting 4 days of straight rain, it’s probably going to be wet, but when they’re predicting a 30 percent chance of showers between 10 and 1, odds are good that it’s not going to hit. Between the sea currents, the constant and variable winds from offshore or from the land, and the mountains that shoot up directly behind us, weather patterns have the habit of changing around in a hurry and no one knows exactly how it’s going to be. Rain may hit, but usually it doesn’t, and many the day has been wonderful on land while you can actually watch the rain clouds empty their goods out over the water. So as we always say: take your chances!
