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By Marty, April 8, 2010 3:41 am

After what has seemed like a very long winter, Spring has finally decided to make its way here to the Korean Peninsula. And in short order. We only got a few dustings of snow this year, but most people here say it was the most since 2004/2005, the first year I came here. And indeed we had a couple of large snowstorms then, dropping 3-5 inches each time. This year, while no large snow storms hit, it has instead been one long cold front, interrupted only briefly by chilly rains.

Despite the lack of large snowstorms, it’s been chilly for months, near freezing each morning when I woke up and only getting reasonable during the afternoon. Just reasonable. One still needed a jacket even in the warmest part of the day, and while riding my bike I was still wearing heavy gloves and wool socks.

All that was just until this week. With the advent of April, spring has come to Korea, and it seems the plants were only waiting for a few days of warmth to burst forth from their wintery sleep. And burst forth they have. From what was just last week a bleak, grey ride along the river has now been turned into an explosion of pinks, whites and greens.

Just across the street from my apartment are a couple of cherry trees and magnolias. While they are pretty, they’re just a single instance of the multitude of blooms around the city. I don’t have the artistic ability to capture with my camera the glory of miles of river front park lined in delicate pink cherry blossoms and green bamboo, dappled with white magnolia.  You’ll have to take my word for it.  Entire playgrounds  nearly hidden and surrounded by armies of pink blossoms, swarm with young mothers whose colorfully clothed children were too small to walk the last time it was warm enough to play outside. Hillsides that were green in spots only from the evergreen trees are now carpeted in bright green new leaves.

I enjoy the spring, for there are phases of beauty here in Korea, each with it’s own grandeur. While the cherry blossoms rule this week and perhaps next, they’ll soon fall off, creating a blizzard of pink snowflakes and later, lush carpets of petals that have been gently pushed by the wind into drifts. Shortly thereafter, the azaleas will bloom, creating their own rivers of bright reds, pinks and purples along the thoroughfares.

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By Marty, March 21, 2010 3:13 am

Count on it. Every spring, like clock work the Gobi Desert pays a visit to South Korea. This weekend it’s pretty gnarly.  A big-ass storm started heading this way earlier this week. Beijing, China is in the path and they got the brunt of the sand. The bad news, however, is that the further the stuff travels the smaller the particles are, which means when you inhale you get lots of pollutants and very fine sand that can cause serious respiratory problems.We’re nearly at the tail end of the land masses, except for Japan, so we get the smallest particles and the most pollutants picked up by the drifting sand. A lot of my friends are sick with scratchy throats and coughs. I’m trying to stay indoors. Here’s a couple of charts I stole from the Korean weather folks.

Above is the dust storm map as of Sunday, March 21. That gives one an idea of the size of the crap coming this way. But a better indicator is the particle counter. They usually close the schools at 400ppm.  At 800ppm they warn people to stay indoors. We were quite a bit higher than that last night. The various lines are for each of the 20 or stations around Korea collecting samples

Things are a little clearer this morning as I write this, but I believe it’s just a clear spot while more is on the way. In the meanwhile, no exercising outdoors. If I go out, I’ll wear a mask.  Maybe a respirator.  Screw it – maybe an Iron Lung.