Lying across the Tropic of Capricorn Paraguay has a generally hot and dry subtropical climate with many days of cloudless blue skies. However a look at the abundance of lush green plants would tell that the land must also be well watered.

The rains do come and are often very heavy putting down an inch or more of rain over a realativly short period of time. The rains can then continue to fall for a day or two, but a few hours or even just a short sharp shower are more the norm.

Being placed in the center of the continent and with evaporation drawing moisture from the ground for all but the winter months electrical storms are the bringers of the rain.

These often start with the building of large thunder clouds between which silent lightning flashes. As the storm builds the sky darkens with a band of thick almost black clouds forming across the sky. By this time the lightning is reaching the ground and so is now accompanied by thunder. The growing claps of thunder build to a constant roll of noise loud enough to shake buildings.

Then comes the most dangerious part of the storm. Dangerious in the same way the continuous flashes of lightning are. The arrival of the leading edge of the storm. With the pressure differences inside and outside the storm this is when the wind arrives.

The intensity of the storm dictates the strength of the wind and for how long it lasts but there is always enough to bend trees. The most destructive bring hurricane force winds knocking down trees and tearing the roofs from houses.

By now the rain would have started to fall. Large fat drops of water which come down with such force that anyone caught outside will be soaked through in an instant.

The rain comes down at such a rate that the view is one of a continuous sheet of water and such drains as there are are quickly overwelmed as the streets and gardens turn into rivers and lakes.

In all but a few storms once the front has passed the winds die down but it can then appear that the weather system has got stuck pouring down torrential rain for hours on end.

I am fortunate in living on a hill that whilst I will be trapped indoors until the waters subside it will flow away. Less fortunate are the low lands which form much of Paraguay and to which the water must flow where flooding during and after a storm is an all too common occurance.

Whilst the rains continue the sky remains dark and threatening but once the storm has passed gaps appear in the clouds through which the sun can shine and within a day or two the sky is blue once more and the heat of the sun had dried the land leaving in many places little evidence of the recent storm.

The hotter the weather the more moisture is evaporated and held in the air before a storm is generated. This past year has been hotter than the normal resulted in some very humid days before the rains and then some exceptionaly large and violent storms.

The one time of year when the rain is not evaporation driven is during the cooler winter months when fronts of cold air blow off the South Atlantic and over the Argentine pampas. These rain bring spells of cold weather dopping the temperature by several degrees and keeping it cold for a few days. Occasionally these south winds are cold enough to cause a frost but when they are they are always dry and so snow is unknown in Paraguay.

So in summary Paraguay is on the whole a hot dry country but heavy rains can be expected at any time of year.