Falling on my head like a new emotion

Today officially marks the 25th day of the month during which we've received measurable rainfall. That means it didn't rain for only 6 days this whole freaking month. Note, however, that it doesn't say anything about the sun actually shining on those 6 days. The City also came within a hair of breaking its record for the wettest March on record with just a smidgeon under 9 inches of rain.

I realize that these sort of records seem sort of arbitrary, and don't necessarily mean anything in the grand scheme of climate. But I do find them a useful measuring stick, and it's nice to throw a little weight behind what you observe or feel is a significant deviation from the norm. At last I know I'm not crazy for feeling like I can't remember what blue sky looks like.

I don't think this is a complaint, yet, so much as an amazed observation, since I know that the current weather pattern will ultimately give way to sun and blue sky and comfortable temperatures. And by November, after 5 months without a single drop of rain, it will once again be hard to imagine that water falls from the sky at all. But for now this rain is getting ridiculous. There's a reason I live in San Francisco and not Seattle, afterall. Ok, so I guess it is a complaint.

On the upside, all this rain is turning to snow in the higher elevations and the Lake Tahoe area is breaking all sorts of March and single-month snowfall records. This means the snowboarding is awesome. There's even crazy talk that some of the resorts could be open for skiing on July 4th. Alpine Meadows, for example, had over 222 inches of snow fall at mid-mountain this month alone. That's very nearly 20 feet, people! Good lord. And it's snowing again tonight. Which is exactly why, if the roads are clear in the morning, I am once again going to make the trek and spend the weekend in the snow, carving up the mountainsides.

As nice as it would be to see a little sunshine, I guess I can wait a little while longer if I'm getting to hone my snowboarding skills into May as a result. Here's hoping the mudslides that are sure to start making the news any day now don't actually involve a chunk of Nob or Russian Hills careening into my apartment.

Photo snagged from Thomas Hawk.