Wild Weather. Anybody here from socal? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

cyrnel · 02-21-2005, 03:38 PM

It's President's day '05 in Portland Oregon. In this region it's a time of year usually associated with gray skies, raincoats, and a few days of optimistic reprieve. But I'm looking out my hotel window at beautiful sunshine and a cloudless sky. People running around in shorts and putting the convertible tops down. Meanwhile, on my laptop are news reports about the continuing socal storms. People dying from 10ft tall mudslides, 30ft sinkholes, La Conchita awash in mud, big power failures, ad nauseum. Just seems surreal. Can anybody from the West's sunshine state give us a reality check?

la petite moi · 02-21-2005, 04:01 PM

Well, I'm in South California, and right now it's very blustery and grey.

jorgelito · 02-21-2005, 04:06 PM

IT sucks. Compounding the problem is LA's topography and poor urban planning.

1. LA lies in a basin which kind of funnels all the water in torrents as they race to the sea (taking all sorts of untreated pollutants with it). Look for frequent and extended beach closures this summer due to pollution (maybe).

2. Because LA has relatively low rainfall, the architecture reflects that too. Outdoor malls and breezy (now wet) facades etc. The massive rain has revealed lots of leaks and damage from the storms. The contracting/sub-contracting has been horrendous. Sloppy workmanship in a sellers/builders' market has led to increased costs in damage repair.

3. The continued insistence on building outrageous houses on hillsides with poor support has been compounded by landlides and mudslides.

4. Traffic snarls. Because LA has little rainfall, people are not use to driving in inclimate conditions. Most people in LA panic at the sight of rain and would be amusing if it weren't for the consequences. The rain raises to the street surface all the oil, effluent and extraneuous pollutant collectd over time making the street surface really slick. Combined with the poor driving skills of LA drivers well, tow trucks are busy now. Add to that the proliferation of SUV's and trucks give most people a false sense of security causing them to not reduce speed but to drive even faster leading to more traffic accidents. Plus, because LA has little rainfall, most people don't bother to get ABS.

5. Flooding - LA is just messed up. I'm not too clear on how the drainage was implemented but I think it has something to do with the paving of the LA River wich made it worse. Not sure though.

Otherwise, I welcome the rain. I like staying indoors by the window watching and listening to the rainfall as I listen to cool jazz on the radio and sip my tea and read my book (or type on TFP). Because LA is usually so sunny, I feel guilty staying indoors and not taking advantage of (yet another) beautiful day. The downside is my doggie has cabin fever and is going stir crazy.

03-10-2005, 04:37 AM

i'm from southern california, huntington beach, and it's usually horribly ugly here - really sunny, but in a disgusting way. the sun bounces off the concrete and makes a huge microwave that makes me feel sick. the clouds are always murky and ugly instead of fluffy. because this place was originally a swamp and people have to force anything to grow here. and it NEVER rains. we went through an entire year without rain. it made me freakin sick. but it rained a lot recently, hard, and the clouds where white and grey and puffy and for a while i felt really good about life.

02-21-2005, 03:38 PM	#1 (permalink)
cyrnel Adequate Location: In my angry-dome.	Wild Weather. Anybody here from socal? It's President's day '05 in Portland Oregon. In this region it's a time of year usually associated with gray skies, raincoats, and a few days of optimistic reprieve. But I'm looking out my hotel window at beautiful sunshine and a cloudless sky. People running around in shorts and putting the convertible tops down. Meanwhile, on my laptop are news reports about the continuing socal storms. People dying from 10ft tall mudslides, 30ft sinkholes, La Conchita awash in mud, big power failures, ad nauseum. Just seems surreal. Can anybody from the West's sunshine state give us a reality check?

02-21-2005, 04:01 PM	#2 (permalink)
la petite moi Filling the Void. Location: California	Well, I'm in South California, and right now it's very blustery and grey.

02-21-2005, 04:06 PM	#3 (permalink)
jorgelito All important elusive independent swing voter... Location: People's Republic of KKKalifornia	IT sucks. Compounding the problem is LA's topography and poor urban planning. 1. LA lies in a basin which kind of funnels all the water in torrents as they race to the sea (taking all sorts of untreated pollutants with it). Look for frequent and extended beach closures this summer due to pollution (maybe). 2. Because LA has relatively low rainfall, the architecture reflects that too. Outdoor malls and breezy (now wet) facades etc. The massive rain has revealed lots of leaks and damage from the storms. The contracting/sub-contracting has been horrendous. Sloppy workmanship in a sellers/builders' market has led to increased costs in damage repair. 3. The continued insistence on building outrageous houses on hillsides with poor support has been compounded by landlides and mudslides. 4. Traffic snarls. Because LA has little rainfall, people are not use to driving in inclimate conditions. Most people in LA panic at the sight of rain and would be amusing if it weren't for the consequences. The rain raises to the street surface all the oil, effluent and extraneuous pollutant collectd over time making the street surface really slick. Combined with the poor driving skills of LA drivers well, tow trucks are busy now. Add to that the proliferation of SUV's and trucks give most people a false sense of security causing them to not reduce speed but to drive even faster leading to more traffic accidents. Plus, because LA has little rainfall, most people don't bother to get ABS. 5. Flooding - LA is just messed up. I'm not too clear on how the drainage was implemented but I think it has something to do with the paving of the LA River wich made it worse. Not sure though. Otherwise, I welcome the rain. I like staying indoors by the window watching and listening to the rainfall as I listen to cool jazz on the radio and sip my tea and read my book (or type on TFP). Because LA is usually so sunny, I feel guilty staying indoors and not taking advantage of (yet another) beautiful day. The downside is my doggie has cabin fever and is going stir crazy.

03-10-2005, 04:37 AM	#4 (permalink)
kitsune Guest	i'm from southern california, huntington beach, and it's usually horribly ugly here - really sunny, but in a disgusting way. the sun bounces off the concrete and makes a huge microwave that makes me feel sick. the clouds are always murky and ugly instead of fluffy. because this place was originally a swamp and people have to force anything to grow here. and it NEVER rains. we went through an entire year without rain. it made me freakin sick. but it rained a lot recently, hard, and the clouds where white and grey and puffy and for a while i felt really good about life.