Weather in Southern California: not paradise (San Diego, Santa Ana: power lines, high crime, how much)

[Sonrise]

My wife and I left Burbank almost 2 months ago. The thing that sold her on Greenville was the weather and the sky. I lived in LA for 10 years but she was a native. When we moved her she said with slight incredulity, "everything is so.....green." She also gets reacts like an excited 5 year old because she can see the stars and constellations at night when we're out on our deck. I told her that those same stars were in Burbank as well but the smog and haze blocked it out. It took some convincing to get her to believe me.

The thing about here is we have all 4 seasons but none are extreme. It really is beautiful.

[Twinkle Toes]

Originally Posted by SandyCo

I've lived here all my life, and I like "boring" weather! I do wish we had gotten more rain this past winter. I'm looking at the brown, dry mountains, thinking, "What spring?" It's already a terrible fire season as well. I just hope we get some rain in the fall before the Santa Ana winds kick up.

The weather is actually the one thing that may keep me here, even as I choke on the smog, sit in traffic, etc. I don't think I could handle a grey, monochrome winter with frigid temperatures. I get cold when it gets below 60 degrees! And forget driving in it...

I like boring too. I get cold when it's below 100!!!

[fpbear]

I just looked up the health data on my hometown of Fullerton, CA on Sterling's Best Places. It says "Air quality in Fullerton, CA is 2 on a scale to 100 (higher is better). This is based on ozone alert days and number of pollutants in the air, as reported by the EPA." I knew the air was bad but I didn't know it was that bad.

[connie&dave]

Originally Posted by Mumof3

Hey Connie&Dave -

You took the words right out of my mouth!!!LOL!!! - I grew up in the UK - spent the first 30 years of my life there - the damn weather is so changable that you really can't go anywhere without taking a jacket out with you. It's funny because now I have been here (in CA) for nearly 6 years I still can't get out of the habit of taking one with me everywhere I go!!! It can be 120 degrees and I'll still take it!!! I know deep down as well that I don't need it!!! It's like a comfort blanket it really is - something that I can't snap out of!!! I need therapy to remove the impression that the sky will cloud over any second and the heavens will open!!! LOL!!! It's bizarre because all my family are still in England and apparently they had a really great April with plenty of sunshine but shock horror!! May has turned out rainy and dull!!! They can't believe it!! They are so jealous of the CA weather!! I can't mention how great the weather is here because they wouldn't speak to me again!!! I tend to just say "well it's like it usually is' !!!LOL!!! I'm tactful like that!! Please weather - Don't listen to this daft thread - remain sunny and warm because I love it and my kids unlike me are making great childhood memories!!!

Mumof3-lol! Being from California, I'm usually the only idiot in England not carrying an umbrella around and I often get caught in the rain. I need therapy to get over the fact that I am not in California and that the weather will never be what I am expecting. It was a cruel joke those 2 weeks in April of sun! Just when I thought "this isn't so bad"... we get rain, dull, wet, cold...I get so down, I think I am one of those people that needs sun and I never knew it before because I had plenty of it when I lived in So. California. My daughter is miserable at school because she can't go outside for recess and lunch half the time its cancelled and they have to eat and play inside due to poor weather. I am counting the days....

[nevercoldcall]

I'll take OC's "boring" weather.

I'm from NJ and winter's not for me.

I lived in Phoenix for 7 years and those summers are not for me.

I like it here :-)

[dakicka]

How can you NOT like this weather?
I'am also from NJ and used to November to March being anywhere from 0 degrees to 50 degrees. With global warming, I feel NJ has become much more undepredictable as far as the weather goes. Last year it was 60degrees in February a couple days and below zero 2 days. Is that nuts or what?!?!?
I moved to California FOR THE WEATHER. It is perfect out here. Always sunny, comfortable, NOT humid, and beautiful. Has anyone else noticed that the heights of people in California seem to be much more than NJ? I mean people's stature. And no not just because over 70% of NJ is either italian or jewish. I really think the weather attributes to a more rapid growth out here for people, and obviously plant life is affected by it. I am 6'0 and I feel avg out here, in NJ 6'0 is rather tall. Here in socal, I am seeing numerous people well above 6'2! Can anyone else relate to me or is this blasphemy? Lol

[fpbear]

Well if we take the worst weather in the country and compare it to OC, then of course OC will come out favorably. For example I would go crazy living in Phoenix, AZ for fear of dropping my glass of water and dying of thirst. I would also suffer in the high humidity of NJ feeling like I'm being steam cooked alive.

Instead the reference should be other nice climates that offer variety. Perhaps Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, etc.

[dtran103]

I rather like Southern california weather. Snow and rain is interesting for about a day. Then it gets old REALLY fast. But you can't get sick of the sun: it's human nature. It gives life (literally and figuratively) and lifts our mood. Neither rain nor snow has as lasting an effect. You get a little high by the novelty of a dropping snowflake, but it doesn't longer than a few days before you really miss Mr. Sunshine.

There is nothing in the world comparable to desert light. The sun shines so brightly here, more brightly than in other parts of the country for the fact that living in a meditteranean climate/desert allows for countless cloudless skies. You may take a sunny day for granted, but you never hate it like you hate a rainy day or a snow slush day.

I'd rather have ONE really good season than the full variety of seasons that are miserable.

New Mexico? Too hot. Wyoming and Colorado? Please. It's like living in Canada. Always freezing cold most of the year.

The air quality can ALWAYS be better. Especially in Northern OC. But in South OC, we have San-Diego type air quality.

[da jammer]

I lived in the southern part of CA for 40+ years and I have to say the OC, while it is getting pretty darned congested, is still one heckuva place to hang. I used to work for a major bottled water company and my route was all over OC for many years back in the early 80s. I then switched to the IE and worked that area til the mid 90s. Yes folks the so Cali weather is great, almost always sunny and hardly any rain. So what is the problem? Hardly any rain. Virtually all water is imported into so CA and while the population continues to go through the roof there is only so much liquid to go around. I recall a few years back the town of Phelan in the upper desert had to resort to restricting it's residents to 1000 gallons of water a month. The average person uses somewhere around 45 gallons of water a day! I used to get so aggravated driving around and seeing so much water from mismanaged sprinkler systems, both residential and commercial/city, wasting vast amounts of water. While I no longer live in so Cali I still have lots of friends and family there and I am very concerned about this. Without water this area would revert back to what it really is, a vast desert. I know people are very busy and have a million things on their minds all the time but if everyone takes a minute to do something as simple as a lawn sprinkler checkup (the ideal time for your sprinklers to come on is just before the sun comes up as there is virtually no wind or heat to dissipate the water) a whole bunch of water can be saved. I'm not trying to pull the ole "soap box" routine folks, this is a real problem.

[Twinkle Toes]

Originally Posted by dakicka

How can you NOT like this weather?
I'am also from NJ and used to November to March being anywhere from 0 degrees to 50 degrees. With global warming, I feel NJ has become much more undepredictable as far as the weather goes. Last year it was 60degrees in February a couple days and below zero 2 days. Is that nuts or what?!?!?
I moved to California FOR THE WEATHER. It is perfect out here. Always sunny, comfortable, NOT humid, and beautiful. Has anyone else noticed that the heights of people in California seem to be much more than NJ? I mean people's stature. And no not just because over 70% of NJ is either italian or jewish. I really think the weather attributes to a more rapid growth out here for people, and obviously plant life is affected by it. I am 6'0 and I feel avg out here, in NJ 6'0 is rather tall. Here in socal, I am seeing numerous people well above 6'2! Can anyone else relate to me or is this blasphemy? Lol

We are all native Californians. Dad is 6'4", brothers both 6'3", mom is 5' 11". I am the short one at 5'7" - and I'm a native Californian too - I swear!!!