It’s finally raining in Los Angeles, the first real and meaningful rain we’ve had this year. Our local news will be wall to wall with breathless coverage of STORMWATCH!!!! or whatever they’re calling it this time, the roads will be even more congested by incompetent drivers than usual, and no matter how much rain falls on the city, it won’t make a bit of difference in our drought.
Still, I love it. I love the rain, and its almost total absence is one of the very few things I don’t like about living here. This is, after all, a desert that people have tried to terraform into something different for over a hundred years, with varying degrees of success.
I’d love to stay home all day today, put a fire into my fireplace, wrap a blanket around myself, open the patio doors, and write on my laptop while I listen to the rain. I’d love to go outside and stomp in puddles until my clothes are soaked through, and I can’t feel my toes. I hope we get a thunderstorm, but it never rains in Southern California.
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Wil, you should move to Seattle.. we have lots rain : )
I understand that feeling. I am from Yuma Arizona. Then moved to Houston where it rains quite more frequently. Enjoy the rain!
Come on out to Chicago. We’ve got all sorts of rain. Snow. Sleet. Everything. Sometimes all in one day.
You are a Portlander at heart! That’s exactly how my wife, son, and I feel and we get to do it a lot around here. Love the rain!
I think the news is calling it The Rainening.
I have been in Colorado for 2 years now, and same here. I miss the east coast rain! A good long day of rain, so relaxing.
Well back to my 98% sun, and 2% snow. 🙂
I keep telling everyone who will listen to me that I want to move to Seattle because I love the rain and something other than constant sunny skies (I know, I’m weird) but I also realize in the back of my mind, too much of anything is rarely a good thing (well, there are exceptions of course…like a good MLT sandwich, you know, where the mutton’s nice and lean?).
As a long-time LA and Southern California wanderer, all that you say is true. I’m fortunate today in that I get to stay home (I work from home generally) so I’ve shored up my fridge and am enjoying the rain I don’t have to drive through with all those people who are already distracted beyond belief. I won’t go into detail about driving in LA these days but I think I average a near miss at least once a week because some idiot is too busy trying to check their phones rather than properly maneuver that 3-5 ton hunk of metal and plastic they’re responsible for.
Stay safe out there and trust no one!
Oh and don’t forget the local news standard: “When will this rain end?! Find out at 6!”
It’s snowing here in Minnesota today. It’s also snowing on your blog. Mind – blown
I’m with you on the love of rain, though. I love dancing and playing in spring/summer rain storms. Making our neighbors wonder about my sanity is just a side benefit.
Come to Portland, you know you love it here.
And it took me forever to type that and read the blog because I was distracted by the “snow.” You can’t just have your blog snowing and expect me to read about the rain…can’t.
So the drought is over, it is raining.
A little bit of rain doesn’t end three years of extreme drought, any more than a little bit of snow means there isn’t global warming.
It pours, man it pours!
Boy, don’t they warn ya.
Wil, sounds like your news people react the same way to rain, that ours here in Portland do to cold weather with the possibility of ice and snow.
Yah. Same in Coltown OH.
@Jason – and ours in Seattle to the same ice and snow! You’d think the world was coming to an end. Sigh.
Ah.I like the rain too Wil. Terraforming the desert? Well.. it won’t work the way they are doing it. Have to make technology to use what IS there Sun,wind to generate power. Ocean wave action. (A tubular snake like thing with gyros and such that will move even in the most sedate waves. )
We have so much rain our roads are closed by flooding, the UK is a great place but very wet.
Agreed. Living SE of you just a bit (in the Temecula Valley) it is very nice to get some rain. Originally from MI, I miss a good old Thunderstorm.
However, I would not like Seattle, where it rains something akin to 300 days out of the year? I like the rain, but not THAT much.
And snow? Fugettaboutit. That’s why I left MI.
It doesn’t rain 300 days each year up here. It’s not even cloudy for that many days. It’s one of the most temperate big cities in the country. Doesn’t go below zero. Rarely goes above 100 in the city limits. There have been more than a few winters in my lifetime (I’ve lived here since 1967) where no snow fell. Miami gets more rain than Seattle does each year. It’s just more spread out over more days here.
The Washington coast is a different story, but that’s because it’s over there by the rain forest. So many cloudy days can get depressing, though, but every other place in the US gets something worse (snow, heat, tornadoes, hurricanes) so it’s basically impossible for anyone up here to complain about any type of weather.
Believe me, though, when that first sunny weekend of the year happens around here, it’s like the renewal ceremony in “Logan’s Run.”
“Seems I’ve often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California, but girl, don’t they warn ya
It pours, man, it pours”
Couldn’t resist – thanks for the earworm by the way….
The Rain Song is not only my favorite Led Zeppelin tune, but my favorite song in general. Good use of lyrics for title, Wil.
Love the snow that tracks the mouse, nice touch for the seasons
In Blade Runner it rained every damn day in future LA.
Roy ultimately gave up and just ran across the rooftops in a speedo.
Something to look into, Wil.
Running in a speedo may or may not be a good look Wil Wheaton. It needs to be test marketed first.
“Still, I love it. I love the rain” Easy to tell that you’re from Scottish stock.
It is always interesting how many comments weather gets! Many other of your posts get a 6 or 8 maybe 10 by the time I look. This has 22 already. One more reason I want to see the Weather Zen game come to life!
It is raining here in Virginia a lot. Does much of the time.
Come to England, I don’t mean London (which most foreigners think is England). For some reason for the past 4 years we have only had 2 weeks of summer, I’m classing summer as days it hasn’t rained or drizzled and temps are warm enough to wear shorts without having to go to hospital with frostbite.
Come to Southwest Ohio. You can experience all four seasons in two days, just ask Scalzi.
Yes Sah He is most correct.
I took my 20 month old son for his first play-in-the-rain puddle stomp today. He loved it! I’m an East Coast transplant, and I used to love to play in the rain as a kid. I remember sitting out under the picnic table in our backyard during summer thunderstorms, my mom yelling at me from the back door to get in the house before I got hit by lightening.
My baby boy is sixth generation native Californian on his dad’s side, and we’re unlikely to leave L.A. So there won’t be too many summer thunderstorms in his childhood. What’s the L.A. equivalent?
Heavy clouds in Availles en Châtellerault, but no rain… (it’s a little town near Poitiers in France). Have a good rainy day !
I’ve noticed that ever since the introduction of color saving washing powder, rainbows have become fainter and fainter..
I’m right there with you, staying at home with my laptop with the windows or doors open, a fire in the fireplace and a blanket. Then, yes, with rainboots and a raincoat, go outside and stomp in puddles. FUN!
I love it when little girls do that. Best thing ever. Hihi. ^_^
Did you know that Romania has excellent glassfiber internet at dirt cheap prices?
I find that these are the best creative days. It has been lovely, and pretty consistent which IS so rare for us!
The rain often slows our pace and forces us to take more time, be more diliberate in our actions. I’ll be sad to see it go, but will look forward to the sweatshirt wearing that will follow!
On rainy day I try to make time to curl up on the couch and read with a hot drink. It is just the best. My recent tip to CA made me realize how dominant the desert is, and how much of it is irrigated by homeowners and farmers to make it into something else. The politics and water fights that are ubiquitous in the region seem like fighting over a self-inflicted injury.
“This is, after all, a desert that people have tried to terraform into something different for over a hundred years, with varying degrees of success.”
You are so right about this! Drives me crazy when they have to import water all the time, to the detriment of the Delta and other places.
Wanna trade? We’ve got plenty of rain here. I bet you’d also love the frost and snow we’ve got oodles of this cold,wet,dark,horrible winter… I mean… The crisp, cool air and fun snow this marvelous.. I can’t do it, I hate the winter. 🙁 Seriously, house trading, call me.
I have living in Washington State for over 30 years now. Rain is the best thing ever….Ask all that survived the Forbidden Desert crew. Go Owlbears!
Been Living you sleepless wonder! Please sandman bring the sand.
Here’s a thought to ponder: The word petrichor means “the distinctive scent which accompanies the first rain after a long warm dry spell” (Thanks, Wikipedia) and was coined in 1964. What, then, would be the term for the smell right BEFORE it rains? That scent that comes up all of a sudden, like Eurythmics lyrics, & that speaks to a deep inner part of our brains that can still somewhat predict the weather, the way the animals do. We need a new word, if this one does not yet exist. Rabbit trail: In the 80’s, I had an English teacher tell me once, “You can’t just make up words!”, and I thought, “Why the heck not?” (Of course, the word I had created was ‘flatulate’ – the verb form of flatulence, so maybe she had a reasonable argument in her literate distress.) Back to the main trail: We need new words for cool things related to rain. It becomes so much more enjoyable when you can describe it more accurately in writing, don’tcha think?
Rain is a beautiful thing. It seems to magically wash away the cares of the day so you can just sit back, relax, and daydream. I remember many summers sitting on the front porch of our house, looking down the block at the train yards, hearing the soft rumble while hearing the patter of the rain at the same time. Those two sounds together are very intoxicating…….and the fresh rain smell on the breeze…..oh that is just such a wonderful smell that you just forget about everything that was ever getting you down.
Hey Wil it Rained up Here in Santa BarBara I Think Wiere Expecting Another Storm Pally So Stay Dry Oh By the way Come shopping at Von’s in Agoura i Will Be thier i’m Transfering thier From the Fairview one.