11 March 2013
Not Weather for Riding
On Saturday the pollen was incredible in Tokyo. On Sunday the wind kicked up and raised dust clouds throughout Kanto. I rode to and from Tokyo station for a Sunday morning trip out of town ... but had no desire to go further in these conditions. Some photos from the train in S. Tochigi/Saitama area are below.
Hi David, rather than "raised dust" this was reported to be sand from the deserts of China. I noticed it too late and ended up with a fine layer of sand dust in our house :(
ReplyDeleteNHK and other national news sources have denied yesterday's incredible dust cloud and fallout had its origins in China. I find that hard to believe. David's decision not to ride through this mess was very wise.
ReplyDeleteI also do not think that the dust originated in China. It was much, much thicker than the yellow dust from inner Mongolia ... and it was definitely getting pulled from freshly tilled fields by strong winds after many days of dry weather. See the top picture for dust getting kicked up into the air by the wind.
ReplyDeleteIs there a pollen advisory or index that you refer to before deciding to ride?
ReplyDeleteHi CM: My wife is more sensitive than I am to sugi-kafun (fir tree pollen) and so I usually do not need to check any index. ... but last weekend I was curious if the pollen would be better in Tochigi than in Tokyo and so if I should take my bike on our half-day business trip and ride before coming back to Tokyo, so I did check
ReplyDeletehttp://weathernews.jp/
Just click on the "All Channel" tab and you can find the pollen （花粉）channel, which includes user surveys of how bad the pollen is and other information of various types.
Still bad this weekend, ... but I think this last week was the peak.