An ‘abnormal,’ monsoon-like weather pattern hits Southern California during the recent winter and spring, and during the summer I saw a storm of rain every day. The days we didn’t have much rain, I used to go outside as soon as I got out of the house to see what the weather was doing. The only thing that was good about the rain was the sun coming at the back of the house through the windows. Now, since the last of the rains we have had, we have just been having a monsoon storm day almost every Sunday. I can say this as someone who never saw rain during the last ten years of her life. The rainy season is right along the equator, so it rains more here and there in one place than it rains everywhere. It’s a dry season in southern California. Now my question for you is, have you seen any storms over California at this time of year?
—T.M., Santa Monica
No, I don’t know that I ever saw rain in Pasadena or in Montebello. Maybe a sprinkle here and there. The last time I was in the mountains, I could see rain on the mountains. But you can see the rain in the mountains, and then you go to the desert; there’s still rain, and in the desert, you see more rain. But the rain in the mountains is different from the rain in the desert. The rain in the mountains is soft as a mist, and when I looked out the window, I saw the rain lying on the window of my room from about 2:00 in the morning until I went to sleep. Then, when I woke up, I had dry windows. If a storm comes along, it would be a thunderstorm then. We had a bad, dry winter for a few weeks, when I was in the mountains, and then the rains came and the air would still be cool. But when you get the dry, cold weather in the desert, there’s