They've been in the news lately. I
suppose there were atmospheric rivers on the west coast when we were kids, but we
never heard that term then. Old phenomenon, new terminology. In the
1950s our perspective was much more local. Meteorologists didn’t have
access to the global information they have now. I remember how much fun
it was to play in the grassy park in front of our house after it rained for
days at a time, the ground became saturated, and the park flooded. All
the usual games of football, hide and seek, and tag, also included splashing
and sliding. When the water receded enough that the grass was visible
again, that was just the right depth to get the skim boards out and go skimming
without having to walk to the beach. (Not that the six block walk to the
beach was a burden.) The park flooding didn’t happen very often.
Not every year. Maybe just a couple times while we were there.
So,
with our local perspective then, and the fact that we were kids, unusual rains
were just a fun thing. A hundred miles away might as well have been a
thousand. If there was news coverage on a broader scale and
an appreciation of larger patterns, that awareness escaped us.
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