Alabamian's Viewpoint Living In California

“It’s dry, hot, and it doesn’t rain. Weather isn’t a thing where I’m from. You won’t see hurricanes or tornadoes. Houses don’t just get destroyed due to the weather.” This is something I’ve heard many times from my boyfriend while we were living in Alabama.

I had no idea what he was talking about. I’m used to it raining every day for an entire week. I’m used to calling a season, “Hurricane season” . I'm used to the humidity and hair getting all frizzy and messy the second you walk out of your house or apartment.

Now, after living here since April, I understand what he was talking about. All those bloody noses due to the dry air, hair looks exactly like it is after fixing it in the bathroom, and being able to plan events and weddings outside because it doesn’t rain. I don’t even have to worry about hurricane season or when the next unplanned tornado will appear.

Speaking of rain and weather, there sure is a lack of it here where I live. Sure there will be some days when clouds will appear but fear not! It will just pass us and rain somewhere else. There is absolutely no chance of it raining, especially the summer time. In the matter of 3 months, it only sprinkled for maybe 5 minutes. My reaction went from, “Heck yea! Finally some rain!” to “Dang, that didn’t last long.”

The only information I can dig up in this city is that annually, it rains about 3 inches. In the city I left from, in 2020, it rained 73.1 inches. Total of 129 days of rain out of the year of 2020. The city I live in now, I cannot even find a record of it raining other than the YouTube video I found.

This data from 1981-2010 shows that the city next to the city I live in only received 13 days of rain for a total of 2.9 inches. Talk about a drought!!! My boyfriend said the city we live in rains no more than one day out of the year.

There’s this “sea” or lake nearby. It used to be a habitat for fish but because of certain events that happened, the sea turned extremely salty and the animals died. Yea, drought is real here, people! It’s called, “The Desert” or what everyone here calls it, “Hell.” I’ll talk more on the sea in another blog.

Because of the lack of rain, the city structure is different. How? Well, if you look, houses don’t have rain gutters. Yes! I said it. I noticed it one day when I was outside on the driveway and my boyfriend was trying out his new camera lens. I was looking at the roof and noticed something missing. Then, I freaked out and looked quickly at all the other houses nearby. No one has these weird things.

Alabama houses always have them. Every house you see will have them either on each corner of the house or more. Even school areas. Schools in Alabama have them all over the place. But schools here don’t.

Another thing I noticed. A lack of those curb (or sidewalk) drains where rain water goes into so it doesn’t completely flood the area. I believe I’ve seen maybe 4 of these things in the whole city. To me, this is highly problematic. Why on earth would a city have a lack of supply in something that can help during horrible weather times? Lack of rain, that’s why. But then, I ask, “Why can’t there still be any for when it does rain? You know, preparation for precipitation?” I guess the city doesn’t need it as much as Alabama cities do. This may be a good thing because I do not want to see a clown in one of those. That would be problematic, indeed.

My friends and family from the east side, please love and appreciate the sounds of rain hitting against the windows and rooftops. Really appreciate the rain you do get. I forgot what rain and thunder sounds like. I can YouTube it but it wouldn't be the same. You should also really appreciate those gutters and sidewalk curb drains.