Tired of the Rain Yet?
I’m guessing I’m the only person in Northern California who isn’t sick of the rain. This year has set records for the rainiest spring ever, and the most rainy days. Add that to the fact that the snow up in the Sierras is about twice as wet as normal CA snow, and the reservoirs are getting close to capacity, and much of the Central Valley is below sea level, protected by an old and neglected levee system, and this could be a rough summer of flooding for CA, as the snow melts and overtaxes the reservoirs.
All of that is bad. Also bad is that people are SICK of grey, wet days. Depression increases when there isn’t enough sunlight, and the news every night is filled with doom and gloom attached to rain, traffic, sinkholes, and mudslides. Mudslides occur when the ground is oversaturated, and we’ve cut back the trees and so on, and we’re in a bit of a mess, the opposite mess from drought.
BUT…I hate the HOT weather of late summer. I don’t like getting sweaty walking out to the car (though at least it’s DRY heat here…), feeling the sun beat down on my head, being unwilling to walk the dog in the afternoon. I like the cool fresh feel of the air when it’s raining, and a sunny day AFTER a rainstorm is like a godsend…the air is crisp and cool, and the pollution is washed away, everything is clear. The hills are pretty and green, everything is growing. Soon there will be baby ducks swimming around in the canal near Maya’s school. I love it all.
I promise not to be mean if you complain about the rain. I promise to try not to get bitchy when it gets hot, and if I do, remind me that at least it’s not humid, and I have a pool right outside my little condo…it will be ok. I promise to try, if you fellow Californians will try to enjoy our rare wet spring.
12 Comments
Gina
I hope sucessful for you too, J!
I totally live in the wrong damn part of the state. Although we are pretty rainy/gray for us at this time of year. I am basking in the fact that I am still able to wear sweaters/sweatshirts during the day in April!
J
Gina, those that come after you won’t know what you’re talking about! I’m starting to get spam comments…there was one here wishing me successful, which is very nice, I guess. I removed it. I’m thinking of resorting to the comment verification thing, even though I hate it, especially when I get it wrong, and I have to go again…but I’m getting more and more of these autogenerated things…so we’ll see. 🙁
Piece of Work
Oh, I loathe the rain! And worship the sun. But at least someone’s enjoying it!
Actually, it was beautiful and sunny this weekend here in SoCAl, so I’m not complaining (anymore)
Autumn's Mom
I’m soaking up a ray of sunlight that has just peeked through the clouds. It’s coming J. Summer is coming. So enjoy this while it lasts girl! Some 70 degree weather would be nice!
Wendy
I hate rain but i LOATHE heat so i know from what you speak! lol – hope you are enjoying the weekend, J!!
blackbeltmama
In PA we had sleet on Saturday! We were outside at a park Easter thing. It was awful!
Ms. Mamma
Gina- I live in the wrong damn part of “the country”! I love the rain, probably because it sounds so damn cool hitting a metal roof. J- I too am starting to get spam comments, however I can’t find them, they don’t show up in the comments, I’m just getting the auto mail from blogger… any ideas, anyone? I won’t turn verification on.
Cherry
Now that we have just returned from a cross country road trip where almost everyday was full of blue skies and sunshine (except in OK which was full of tornado warnings and heavy winds trying to throw us off the road), I have found it very strange to come back to CA to find grey skies and rain.
I hear I missed quite a week of bad rain and mudslides.
I’m thankful for the sun I saw on my trip, because I hear we are in for more grey skies to come. I am also thankful for the rain since I grew up and maintain a water conservation practice, AND it means I don’t have to water the plants. 🙂
I say, let it rain at night but I still need my sunshine during the day. Plus CA drivers forget how to drive when it rains.
Missed you!
hellomelissa
turn on ‘the carpenters’ everybody! ’cause rainy days and mondays ALWAYS get me down. so does comment verification, but i use it ’cause when i turn it off i get too many annoying spam comments. sorry! happy second-week-of-working-from-home, j! maybe you’ll get a nice day and will be able to take a midday stroll, a definite perk of the work-from-homer.
Pony Storm's Ride
Two things to keep in mind when it rains in California:
1)The weather is usually chilly.
2)The rainfall totals, even from the biggest deluge, don’t actually add up to much.
Compare this to the mess in the New Orleans/Mississippi/Houston area last summer: The temperature was up in the nineties and they were getting pelted with 12 inches, or more, over a 24-hour period.
You’d have to have never lived anywhere better in order to survive in that kind of climate.
achromic
I just wish that if it was gonna rain that we would have thunderstorms…. I mean a few real good lighting and thunder rattle the window ones would be a change…. and I do so miss that from the midwest. I have low blood pressure (like SUPER LOW) and so I am cold all the time even when it is really hot…. so I like the hot…. the REAL hot. My spouse however is much more like you and enjoys it a bit cooler and really complains LOUDLY if it is over 75. 🙂
J
God Pony Storm, you reminded me of living in PA. The storms there brought down TONS of rain, and the humidity…blech. You’re right, rain here isn’t uncomfortable. Which is why I enjoy it. 🙂 Even the relatively little we get, when it is a lot more than ‘normal’, however, can cause a lot of damage, because our arid region isn’t made for it, and all of the changes we’ve made through agriculture and housing have made it even less able to deal with a lot of rain. Sigh. I don’t care. I’ll enjoy it anyway, and like Scarlett says, “I’ll worry about the rest tomorrow…for tomorrow is another day!” (A crappy attitude if I could actually prevent anything bad from coming from all of this rain, but since I can’t, and perhaps nothing bad WILL come from it all, I just accept it and enjoy!) (And today is beautiful and mostly sunny, with just occasional spurts of rain and clouds. Very nice.
Achromic, I too enjoy the thunder, but watching my dog cower and shake in terror, not so much, so I’m thankful that we’re not having thunder storms. 🙂