It Sometimes Rains in Southern California

About a week ago, I ran across an interesting report which determined which US city had the most weather variety. In a study of 277 cities, San Diego ranked 276 -- almost no variety. I mention this because it has been raining this week. A slow, drizzling, blah "Seattle" rain, but rain. To a Nashvillian, this is nothing -- I could wipe my parking spot clean with a single sheet of Bounty -- but to San Diegans, who don't see much of the wet stuff, this is a deluge.

This bout of rain began in the wee hours before sunrise Friday. By mid-day, there had been over 60 traffic accidents. Without measurable accumulation, I found this laughable... until I heard there were fatalities. Fatalities? In THIS??? So I did a little research. Precipitation data tells me that Nashville sees more rain each month than San Diego accumulates from April to October. Nashville averages roughly 4 inches of rain per month; San Diego averages not quite 10 inches per YEAR. San Diegans don't have much opportunity to hone their wet-weather driving skills, and when the opportunity comes, it seems, they avoid the road if at all possible. The way Nashvillians avoid the road during a barely measurable snowfall. To each his own precipitation phobia.

However, if I cannot laugh at that San Diegan inability to drive in rain, I can laugh at their inability to walk in it. One drop and they scurry for cover. Hey kids, it won't burn you and you're not going to melt! There. I feel better now.