Posts

  • Above Santiago on a Clear Day

    I have beaten it to death, but smog-free days are a pleasant rarity in Santiago. Today Neil and I took a quick run up Cerro Manquehue, a common destination for a 2-hour hike due to its proximity to town. Neil picked me up shortly after 0800 and we were on the trail around 0915. The parking lot was reasonably occupied and we encountered a few people on the trail. But the great surprise was the lack of smog in town.

    Read more...

  • Smoggy Sunsets

    As we continue into the period of smog with its occasional clearing, the skies continue to generally get worse. But the silver lining of pollution-filled skies is an increase in the frequency of beautiful sunsets.

    Read more...

  • Inaugurating the 2017 Ski Season at El Colorado

    I already knew winter was on its way, thanks to the arrival of still air and the worsening air quality. But the fun part of winter—snow— was yet to arrive, and I was not expecting it until early–mid June. But, weather is nothing if not surprising, and a week or two of storms in mid-May had the ski hills open early. So, on the heels of a trip to a US East Coast spring, I joined some friends for a day trip to the mountains of Chile to crush snowflakes.

    Read more...

  • Santiago in HD

    Winter has begun its descent on Santiago. While that often brings dark, smoggy skies, it also means the start of the “rainy” season. Though infrequent and often not consisting of that much actual precipitation (about 280 mm annually), the storms that do pass through are a boon for air quality. The 24–48 hours following a storm border on glorious, with the city and surrounding snow-capped mountains bursting out in High Definition, only to fade back into a brown-gray state as the pollution reclaims the skies.

    Read more...

  • Hello Winter, My Old Friend

    The temperatures have been dropping in Santiago, and the air is getting still. Winter is on its way and the sky already shows it.

    Read more...