This ritual was played out last weekend which explains why there was a run on Ace bandages at drug stores last week. We don't name our storms here. We remember our floods by years, but not our winters. In Sonoma County, for example, there was the flood of '57 and the flood of '86. We remember those.
Blizzards have no equal in California.
At its worst, rain cancels picnics, discourages jogging and generally makes us grumpy. But our storms don't force us to take in strangers. We don't need to clear the walks for mail carriers, distribute sand and ashes for visitors and stack wood for neighbors. And rain rarely causes a neighbor's barn to collapse, bringing everyone running. Surviving winters here is not a communal endeavor.