monterrey: hot mountains and a river that disappears

monterrey is... a place. you know, like one of those cities that's a capital? nuevo león's capital, they say. sits at this 25th parallel, which sounds important but i don't know what it means. east of some mountains, sierra madre oriental or something. elevation 540 meters, which means you'll be out of breath if you walk too fast? surrounded by way taller mountains though, like mount silla at 1700 meters. dramatic? sure, whatever.

split right down the middle by the santa catarina river. east to west, north/south sides. drains into san juan river and rio grande, but apparently the river often goes dry in winter. weird for a river to just disappear. maybe it's shy?

climate is semi-arid to subtropical. also they say it's one of the hottest cities in mexico. summers? 43-45°C (109-113°F!) from april to june. winter's mild but sometimes freezes and even snows, rarely.

i just checked and it's... 18.15°C right now? feels like 17.35? pressure 1027, humidity 51. hope you like that kind of thing.

big business hub, they say. richest in latin america? city proper has 1.1 million, metro area over 5 million. crowded.

if you get bored, san pédro garza garcía and santa catarina are just a short drive away to the west. east: guadalupe, juárez, cadereyta jiménez. north: san nicolás de los garza, garcía, general escobedo. south: santiago.

someone told me the name comes from some count's wife, gaspar de zúñiga's wife? not the mountains. disappointing, really. thought it was a mountain king thing.

city's hotter than countryside by 5°C now, might be 10°C by 2050. not good. water problems too - droughts and floods. so if you live here, bring sunscreen and don't expect rain in winter.

so yeah. mountains, heat, a river that vanishes. monterrey.

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