Rain

 We finally got our first real storm of the winter. Nothing torrential but a good steady rain stretched out over a couple of days. The snow level dropped down to 3,000 feet which covers a little bit of the city and a significant chunk of the county. To the east, some of the mountains got more than a foot. To the North, Interstate 5 is closed due to snow at the Grapevine.

At this point, I am supposed to focus on the negative, pointing out the dangers of landslides, flash floods, toxic ash, wet or icy roads, and making sure that everyone knows that this doesn't come anywhere near to catching us up for the "rainy" season. All of this is true, but this compulsion to spin what is overall very good news as bad is neither healthy nor informative.

First off, beyond the fact that we desperately need the rain, this gives us all some breathing room before the next wildfire. Even after Eaton, Palisades, and Hughes were mostly contained, we were still in a very dangerous position. The Santa Anas were still blowing and we were one bad wind away from seeing recent events repeat themselves in places like La Cañada Flintridge or the Hollywood Hills.

Given the terrain and the seasonality of the weather, the people who lived here have always had to deal with floods and landslides going back thousands of years. The altitude of the city of Los Angeles ranges from zero to over 5,000 feet. In the county, it's more than 10,000. All that water rushing to the ocean will do some damage. Fortunately, the fire departments of Southern California have some of the best rescue units in the world and most people around here understand the risks.

While looking on the bright side, we should also note that unlike some previous years, this dry spell is limited to our part of the state. Northern California is having a pretty good year. This takes some of the pressure off of the state's firefighting resources.

This was a good weekend.