Greener Grass

Growing up, my childhood was filled with limericks to describe the process in which Winter would morph into Spring:

 "March comes in like a lion, out like a lamb."

"April showers bring May flowers."

In California, these rhymes are essentially useless since seasons as I know them aren't really a thing here.  To me, moving to the beach meant sunny skies and warm to mild (mind you, not hot) temperatures all year round.  Over the past week, I have learned the true meaning of "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."

In the middle of last week, the forecast for the weekend was absolutely thrilling:

I know, right!?

To be fair, this did play out as predicted, however, not in Santa Monica...

Turns out that the beach does have more than one season, and last weekend I got a taste of the gray season when my perfect, wonderful beach weekend was covered in a marine layer.  I know I've complained about the marine layer before, and to be fair, since moving here I have learned about the phenomena of "June Gloom." I was just unprepared to experience it in April.  On a weekend that promised amazing weather to be outside and remember the perks of living out here.

When I first heard about the marine layer, I thought it was a product of smog. Turns out, it's not.  It's completely water  based and occurs when the air temperature is warmer than the ground temperature.  It occurs more often around the ocean because the large quantity of salt water takes a lot of solar energy to warm up from the cooler "winter" temperatures. So our first warm days on the beach can often be cloudy until things equalize a bit.

You can actually tell the difference between the marine layer and smog when you look at the sky because they separate out due to the density difference between oil and water. In the picture below, the fog on the ground and around the buildings is the marine layer.  If you look at the edge of the horizon, you can see the dirtier brown layer of smog.

Santa Monica covered in marine layer
Parker Mesa hike Dec 2011

Sometimes the marine layer will "burn off" by the afternoon, but this past weekend, it persisted through Friday, Saturday, Sunday,  Monday, and most of Tuesday. A brief glimpse of the sun on Wednesday turned into a so called "epic storm" or what we call a rain shower in the Midwest.  As I fell asleep to the sound and smell of rain last night, I realized how long it had been since I had been around rain.  It was actually really soothing and somewhat nostalgic; I could close my eyes and be transported back to hundreds of memories from my past.

Ironically, just as I was beginning to make my peace with the gloom, the sunshine returned this afternoon with the promise of a bright and mild weekend, perfect for all the activities I was forced to postpone last weekend.  And let me tell you, there is nothing like almost an entire week of gray to make you really appreciate then sun.  Especially in a place where perfect weather is expected and often taken for granted.  And I guess this is good practice for June when I apparently might not see the sun for the entire month...