The running joke I had for most of the last month comes down to following statement:

“Based on the sample of the last few months, it always rains in Southern California.”

If you don’t find that funny … then you probably aren’t from this area.  Rain in SoCal is rare.  Like, this kind of rainfall just doesn’t happen in people’s lives.  Not that it’s been biblical, just continual.  Some days just light drizzle, some days torrential downpours.  But it seemed we never went a week without some precipitation.  Finally, the long-term forecast shows a return to dryer weather.  Weather Channel is saying that between now and April 12th there is only two days forecasted for any chance of precipitation, and then only a 10% chance.  Temps will be in the mid 70s for highs, and lows staying above 50.  So finally the ongoing joke about rain maybe literally drying up.

Contrary to another running joke I have with people from LA, there haven’t been many complaints about the rain.  Nearly all of them comment with “We Needed it”. There’s been an ongoing drought for most of the last three years.  Lawns have died.  Reservoirs drained.  Water bills have joined lofty numbers along with tax bills.  Now, the rains have become so good that the drought conditions have been rolled back to nearly pre-panic conditions.  So we definitely needed it.

What we get, also, is green.  Lots of Green.  All that rain triggered record blooms of plants coming out for springtime.  Grasses have grown thick and lush.  Mountainsides are covered with leafy sprouts.  Anything growing from the ground with a chance of colors other than “dead” or “wilted” are winning the battle this spring.  An area of the country that is more typically the color of deserts, is now turning green.

Of course, anyone with allergies would know this brings all that lovely pollen.  And there is LOADS of pollen.  Much of my car is covered in it every morning.  With windows open, the stuff blows in and gets everywhere.  Some nights its hard to breath.  In fact, this past Saturday I swear everything tasted like pine trees, that pollen was on everything.

But this all means that spring is here, and with the chance to dry out and warm up – I think its time to stop complaining about it.

And maybe come up with a new running joke.