A change in the weather

[mdlbear]

Today was officially the first day of The Wet Season. Here in California we don't have the usual four seasons, a fact that confused and bothered me no end for the first few years I was out here. We have two: Wet and Dry, roughly divided by the equinoxes. During the Dry season, it rarely rains; non-native plants die if you don't irrigate them, and the hills acquire a color that natives call "golden". During the Wet season it rains occasionally; the hills turn green. Leaves fall off the non-native trees that haven't yet evolved to handle California's version of a growing season, and the kids who have never driven in rain before (and a good number of adults who ought to know better) get into trouble on roads that are suddenly slippery with a layer of water over a season's worth of oil drippings. Luckily I avoided them this year.

Thor arrived in Menlo Park with his thunder and lightning, about half an hour after I got back from my lunchtime walk. It was clear again when I left for home; I ran into a downpour with about a third of my trip left to go. There are microclimates in the Bay Area; it was raining only lightly when I got home to San Jose.

I like the rain, the thunder, and especially the lightning. It's about time.