First Rain

[katster]

I'm from California.

This is a "duh, tell us something new, kat" moment, I'm sure, but I have to explain that in context. I am from California. And in California, there's a wonderful moment that I've taken to calling "First Rain."

A few years back, I went to Nova Scotia, to visit zibblsnrt. And in Nova Scotia, they had their fireworks for Canada Day canceled because of rain and fog. This was a completely foreign concept to me -- the one time the fireworks for the Fourth had been canceled was because there was a heavy north wind and high fire danger. The idea of rain in the summertime practically flummoxed me.

That's because out here in California, we have a very specific wet season and dry season. The dry season usually runs from about April to October, with some variation on either side. (I've seen it rain into June, and I've seen it not rain until December.) But about this time of year, the shift in seasons becomes obvious, the clouds roll in, and the rain begins to fall. It's a magical event, first rain is. It restores a sense of order to the universe. It also means that the hundred plus degree heat of the summer is safely tucked away until next year.

The rain is important to California because with a wet season and a dry season, we're reliant on the snowpack in the Sierras to keep us hydrated through another long season, and the failure of the rain to come means that we're probably going to have a slight problem the next summer. And sometimes this string of dry winters goes on for seven or eight years, and the reservoirs drop down to levels unseen, and things long forgotten get uncovered. I grew up in one of these droughts, and I remember quite clearly the day it started raining at lunchtime. We all piled into our fifth period class, excited and jabbering, and my math teacher looks up, shakes her head, and says, "You children of the drought, you don't even know what *rain* is."

That's stuck with me, and thus I've always felt more reassured when the rain comes. And last night I fell asleep to the sound of the rain dripping down from the sky and pattering against the ground, and was assured that all is again right with the world. And I fell asleep.

Comments

[fb.livejournal.com]

I remember that drought too, and I remember the last time there was as much rain in a season as there was in the last one, with water almost up to the underside of the causeway.

I was the same way about the first rain, maybe for the same reason, I've never really thought about it much. It always seemed to come too little and too late though, a paltry, insignificant no-pun-intended drop in the bucket, not enough for real relief from the various unpleasantries of the Central Valley climate. I've always laughed at people calling it a wet season, it didn't feel like anything ever got more than damp, and moving to Oregon only reinforced that idea.

Denver would really confuse you, hundred degree heat and pouring rain like the Valley never gets don't just happen in the same season, they can happen in the same week. ;)

[fearghaill.livejournal.com]

So basically, you visited us in early July and encountered what you would consider "winter" weather?

...your summers would be as rough for me as our winters would be for you.