The quintessential shot of Los Angeles from any television show or movie is the sun shining down on palm trees, their fronds swaying in the breeze, and craggy brown hillsides in the distance (perhaps even with the Hollywood sign). This is also maybe the easiest shot for a cinematographer to capture because nearly every day in LA is sunny, and the palm trees are ever-present.
As someone only mildly obsessed with meteorological phenomena, though, the weather here is more than a little boring. Rain just a handful of days every year (and then rarely for more than a few hours), June "gloom" that is about 6 straight weeks of grey skies in morning followed by warm, hazy sunshine in the afternoon and evening, and otherwise nothing but sunny skies that go on and on for months. It's enough to make even me forget that on a rare occasion I actually need to dress for the weather.
What is jarring is that, no matter the time of year, I generally only know what season it is by reading or watching the news. Yes, we get a couple chilly weeks in the winter where lows drop into the mid-40s, and in the summer we'll get weeks of 80 degree temperatures every day. But I see reports of a snowstorm, tornado outbreak, hurricane, or flash flood, and it all feels... foreign.
Chicago sees golfball-sized hail and 50-mph winds, and it's sunny and 75 here. Oklahoma City gets hit by a 2-mile-wide tornado, and it's 70 and sunny here. New York City gets slammed with a hurricane, and we're sitting in 80 degree sunshine. On the rare occasion that it rains here, we've usually had warning for days and the local news is bringing us regular updates on the rain, including man-on-the-street interviews (i.e. "how are you staying dry this morning?"). And that's only during the 5-month span when it actually *can* rain, as the rest of the year is dry season.
I suppose I shouldn't complain, but on some level I do miss weather. I imagine myself sipping a hot cocoa alongside a fireplace looking out over a snowy scene, or I picture a towering cloud swirling and rumbling overhead while I stand outside and wait for a cold rain to sweep in and push the warm humid air away. But rarely is it ever humid, almost never does it thunder, and the closest it gets to snowing is a picturesque winter scene of the 10,000-feet above sea level San Gabriel mountains in the distance after a cold rain.
Just some random thoughts I wanted to share and wondering what others have to say. Feel free to share in the comments!
I can relate, as an ex-Vermonter and one-time Montrealais. Living in coastal Northern CA is maybe a bit more confusing than when I lived in SoCal, where weather and sun angle are near-constants. Here I have just enough seasonal difference to make me aware of seasons, but merely wan versions of the vivid falls or all-in winters I grew up with.
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