Above is how it looked behind our home at sunset today, after many successive rainy days. In the distance are the foothills below the Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Tea growing region in Zhushan, Taiwan.
At long last, the month of June has been replete with rainy weather here in Taiwan. Taiwan's rainy season, poetically referred to as "Plum Rains", has saved us from the drought that had reached crisis conditions!
Since last summer, when no typhoons passed over Taiwan, the water supply has been slowly but steadily depleted to the point of some major reservoirs dipping below 5% capacity. Central and Southern Taiwan had next to no rain throughout the winter and spring, resulting in the most severe drought conditions in recorded history. We posted about this when spring tea harvest was seriously impacted in certain growing regions.
It's been amazing to see the rapid recovery in recent weeks! This is evidenced in the report in the local news yesterday. Sun Moon Lake, in Nantou County, Taiwan is a major watershed for the surrounding region, in addition to being Taiwan's most popular mountain tourist destination.
Above is a view of the southern horizon behind our home in Zhushan (Bamboo Mountain), Taiwan.This is in the direction of the Alishan High Mountain Tea growing region.
So, while our tea sources are now facing the challenge of waiting for a dry spell to harvest their summer crops of tea, it's a given that we are all very grateful for the recent rainy weather! You can click here to check out a cool app showing the water levels of all of Taiwan's reservoirs. We are back to business as usual regarding the water shortage! Yay!
See for yourself how things look now on the ground after the rains in the video below.
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