It Never Rains in Southern California

It Never Rains in Southern California was a hit song by Albert Hammond in the early 70's.

 

Yesterday was the first real rainfall we've had since I moved back to SoCal. It was as crazy as I remembered.

 

When I moved out here for school in the mid 90's I remember the news interviewing people on the street about the "weather". It was drizzling and some people had their umbrellas up. I had just come from a frozen tundra with 2 weeks of below zero temperatures in Saint Louis. Culture shock.

 

So yesterday morning it was drizzling. Yes the roads get slick because it rarely rains and you should use caution. But the people here really freak out. They drive like it's a snow storm.

 

When I dropped my daughter off at school, I heard one of the kids say "look it's raining!" All of the kids ran to the window to look outside. We used to do that when it was snowing. I'm sure some Canadians would think that was funny.

 

The traffic on the way to work was pretty bad, as expected. After all, it was misting. I was only 5 minutes late, but some of my co-workers were 1 1/2 hours late due to freeway accidents.

 

I thought the fun was over, but we had several power outages in my office building. Apparently a power line pole was down in the area. Probably from a careening vehicle.

 

So if you have read this far, you'll realize this post is more of a journal entry than a profound statement. If you think I am complaining, I'm not. I like living in a place where 1/16th of an inch of rain is considered major weather news.

 

Now please enjoy the soulful singing of the great Albert Hammond: