I sat with our laptop nearby watching the radar on the national weather service radar web site, and then it happened.
It rained!
I mean it really rained! Not the light shower we’ve experienced twice since arriving in Los Angeles but a real rain shower. It came down pretty good for 11 minutes and then all of a sudden it stopped. We were pretty disappointed if that was all the rain to come but twenty minutes later is started back up again.
And it was bigger and stronger!
(I know you are questioning our sanity since we are so captivated by the rain … and the only way to truly understand is to move from one climate to another. At least your laughing … hopefully).
The second rain shower was steady, quite hard at times and was accompanied with two bouts of lightening and one clap of thunder. We talked about the wind and how the rain seemed to come straight down so the rain was never ‘driving’. It also wasn’t hard enough to consider it ‘teeming’ but it will still a pretty good soak.
H and I tried to smell and touch the rain from our unit but failed miserably. We live on the seventh floor which is the top of our complex, and the windows do not have screens (nobody does here in downtown LA for some reason). I assume the lack of screens is why our windows only open partially, revealing not more than 2-3 inches of space when swung out.
The two of us were sticking our hands outside trying to feel the rain drops, only to be foiled by the building’s ledge above us. Carter and I both had our noses as far out the window as we could in order to smell the rain and the brief sensation of weather we once knew.
Supposedly there is an 80% chance of showers again today, 60% opportunity for thunderstorms this evening.
Easily the two best weather days since our arrival in Southern California.
I did not really get to see much rain, as I slept through most of it. BUT I did get awakened by a flash, and seconds later a clap of thunder that echoed off the skyline a few blocks away- first time I think I’ve heard thunder downtown. This was either 9pm or 10pm (I forget) but never again, at least until I fell back asleep.
I felt cheated as it was not raining during my a.m. commute, but now it is again and I plan to got walk to get a cappacino just for the fun of it…
I’ve never cared for rain so much in my life.
I loved the rain last night, and the thunder, but I am glad it stopped this morning. It will be very PITA to run errands in the rain. I think the rain scared people away, there were hardly anyone at the grocery store this morning. I was expecting long lines.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
This might sound like a stupid question, but don’t you get bugs and stuff in your apartment if you leave your windows open and there are no screens?
Hilary: surprisingly no. Not in my unit at least. I think it has something to do with me being on the 8th floor. It may be different if I were closer to the ground.
Dust: heck yeah. especially with construction a block away.
Bugs: none.
I got home late last night, and NinaDog was itching for a walk. We went out and got soaked. Funny thing is the furry one hates to be wet, so I had fun watching her be all confused and doing her dog-shake every 5 feet.
Eric – I assumed people in the valley pay for it not to rain
Liz – Glad to hear it wasn’t too busy out for you. H is out now getting some things in Glendale and she said the roads weren’t too bad this morning as well.
Hilary – What Lola said … We were amazed when we checked out places to live and none of them had screens. We kept asking leasing agents and they all thought we were strange for caring if they were installed or not. Surprisingly there are very few bugs here. I’m willing to bet we’ve had one, maybe two in our unit. Now dust and dirt is another story … things are filthy when the windows are open!
Lola – Carter was a rain dog back in Chicago, always taking his time and sniffing as much as possible during down pours. Sounds like Nina had some fun!
Wow, who knew?
Happy Thanksgiving!
The mixed blessing of living in an eighty year old building…..the windows open all the way up in order to allow for maximum enjoyment of the outside weather but the ceilings leak from water that hits the roof, allowing for two inches of precipitation in my bathroom. Why bother to take a walk when you can experience the rainfall while still indoors?
Our rain gauge measured almost 2 inches! Nice steady rain, our pea gravel driveway seemed to be swimming this am. Who doesn’t sleep better when it rains?
We built a bird perch- 15 feet high, when the folks bought the property south of us- they took out 19 acres of walnuts, to put in a vineyard. We loved this large bird who sat, every night in a tree- well we put it up for him. Today- he sat for 6 hours with his wings outstretched. Never seen it before in my life. He left for a brief period and returned to do the same thing. All while it was dumping.
It rained all afternoon- and we spent the day making a sweet tart crust, a delicious upgrade on lemon curd and lime macadamia nut cookies.
Have a great Thanksgiving!