It never rains in Southern California
In his 1998 book “Ecology of Fear,” Mike Davis describes in a chapter titled “Our Secret Kansas” the century-long reluctance by Los Angeles newspapers to call a meteorological spade a spade:
Although tornadoes are ordinary citizens of Southern California’s “normal” climate regime, they have been persistently construed as aberrations, like mountain lions in a suburban yard. “Freak winds” is the euphemism that has most often appeared in newspaper accounts.
Sure enough, the following picture, displayed above the fold in today’s LA Times, carries the caption “Southland Weather Takes A Freakish Turn.”
To be fair, the article on the cover of Section B is titled “Tornadoes, hail and snow deliver a May surprise,” but inside the editors revert to pattern on page B8 with “Freak storm descends on Southland.”
I love it when it rains in Southern California. It’s raining right now.
Anyone who wants to understand this place could do far worse than to read the works of Mike Davis.