California Winter

Posted on March 2, 2003 in Weather

The other night on irc.icq.com I mentioned that it was 10 degrees Celsius here. “You’re having a heat way!” meaghan exclaimed.

California winters are bright green and wet. February and March are the two months when it is hardest to pick out the live oaks and the prickly pear cactus: the grass and the greasewood darken and become verdant.

It rained most of the week. This morning, a gentle breeze rolled off the mountain and cleansed the skies until they showed details as clearly as Microsoft Flight Simulator weather set to unlimited visibility. The clearing of the clouds revealed the very lightest dusting of snow atop Mount Santiago. The view stretching from ocean to mountain top looked like it came from one of those nature guides to the Southwest, where vegetation was marked in steps, from Sonoran like chaparral near the ocean to a Canadian Zone at the very summit.

I’ve been taking peeks at the tip and thinking of Meaghan and my other Canadian friends who are sitting in their houses staring out at much larger amounts of frozen precipitation.