Pasadena - A Winter Wonderland

I wrote this originally on 10/18/05; 12:16 PM, but I forgot to post it.

There is evidence that Pasadena has its own weather, even if the rest of the country denies it. Last week, residents were walking around in shorts and flip-flops, hoping to get some relief on the mini heat wave. This week, rain pours down across the city, threatening to wreak havoc on roofs that should have been repaired over the summer. Those still hanging onto the sweet memory of summer are walking around in denial; still wearing tank tops, sans umbrella. It's as if these people are daring the weather to "bring it on!" C'mon, you can't ignore the sudden downpour like a Manhattanite who routinely ignores a freakshow in Times Square.

I witnessed a lady walking across the street on Lake Avenue barely covering herself with a folded up magazine. What's the point? Why doesn't she just walk with her face staring up into the sky? Catch some rain drops with her tongue while she's at it. And then, as if you could hear the Ride of the Valkyries playing in the background with increasing volume, large pellets of hail plummets onto the many disrepaired roofs, dangling raingutters and unstrategically-parked cars across town. On the news, some residents in nearby Altadena showed hail the size of golf balls, whereas other smaller ones, made enough noise to make you wonder if any cars parked on streets are being dimpled by the sudden hail storm.

Witnessing it from inside my house at lunchtime, it was quite a sight. It was a weird mix of wet, watery rain and micro snow balls dumping down from the sky, as if God's freezer got over frosted, and he's chiseling and wacking away at all the ice bits. It's also interesting, even with all that imagery, you would assume it's cold. Frankly, the first two days was quite warm.

As if that weren't enough, I hear about a possible tornado warning somewhere in Castaic. It was described as some slow movement in the winds, whatever that meant. And because of all the rain, there are land/mudslides in nearby Burbank. The video on the evening news showed a river of brown, muddy water running down a hill like a river. And furthermore--yes, furthermore--there were a couple of earthquakes that happened out in the desert. Gee, if ever there was a time to believe in the End of Days, this seems like some darn good signs.