OPINION PIECE - With the weather Knysna's endured the past week or so, I have found myself barely hanging onto my hat, clinging onto light poles by my fingertips, and tightening my jackets, all to ensure this unbelievable wind does not get the best of me.
If you're an avid reader of the Knysna-Plett Herald (which I sincerely hope you are), then you should know what my feelings about the local weather patterns are. Just in case you aren't though, here's a quick summary – it's absolutely ludicrous.
How can one town have about five different seasons in one day, and not one weather app can correctly predict what is going to happen? For instance, last week (or the week before, time is an abstract concept at this stage) we had a string of sunny, at most partly cloudy, days which I'd consider perfect spring weather.
But, did one weather app guess right? Not that I saw. "But Blake, they don't guess, they're meteorologists, they predict?" No, I'm sorry, not in this town. I think when it comes to Knysna, meteorologists have just given up and now play weather Russian Roulette to guess what Knysna's weather will be like.
"It was supposed to be rainy and miserable, perfect lockdown weather, not this perfect spring weather that is supposed to see us out on the beach," is what I imagine meteorologists were saying while pulling their hair out.
To be fair, they did get closer to predicting this week more correctly, but even then they forecasted overcast, wet, and cold weather. And what have we had? Sunny days as mid-December, and winds blowing hard and fast enough to make Port Elizabeth jealous.
Now, to be Frank (he hasn't blown away, don't worry), I don't blame them. Purely because even locals that have called Knysna home for decades simply don't know what is going on with this town's weather.
Photos: Blake Linder
I consistently get told "always have a jacket on hand" by long-time locals, but I beg to differ – you don't need A jacket, you need several jackets and just about half your cupboard in your car. You need a jersey for the cold; you need a windbreaker for the, well, wind; you need a jacket for the potential rain; you need a light sweater in case it's sunny and not too cold but too cold to only wear a shirt; you need tracksuit pants for the cold; you need jeans to look half decent at work. Knysna asks a lot of you and your clothing.
To the outsiders who are saying, "Why don't you just get dressed at home?", I'll have you know, the weather turns in minutes here, and even if it doesn't I can guarantee you there is different weather on opposite ends of town. You can be freezing in Knysna Heights, go into town and need to transform into summer clothing, and then go to Hunter's Home and need to pull out your rain jacket and umbrella.
Nothing is for certain, except that is, for the wind of late. That's been the only constant we've had this past week and boy has it been doing the big bad wolf proud.
This wind has been huffing and puffing, doing its best to blow everything over. Through rain and sunshine, the wind has stayed plentiful. I can't speak for everyone, but I can say that I for one have been blown away.
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