It’s been almost 8 months since I moved from California to the previously-mostly-left-leaning State of New York, taking up residence in the heart of New York’s Separatist Confederate Appendage, known as Long Island.
As a forever Californian, I am truly grateful for every time I’m on the highway, and see a blue, black, or camouflage green Dodge Ram 1500 pickup, sporting any number of multiple Black-and-White-Thin-Blue-Line-Punisher-Skull-Let’s-Go-Brandon-I’m-Armed-And-I-Vote decals that never fail to remind me just how great a Second Amendment Patriot they are, because without said decals, I might lose my soul by inadvertently making eye-contact with them on my way to that Sanctuary City of Retail… Trader Joe’s.
Other things that I have learned in my 8 months of living just off the southern border of Canada are words and phrases used by New York TV meteorologists. Those terms… and their Straight Outta SoCal translations… include, in no particular order,
East Coast Terms…………………….West Coast Translations
Rain…………………………………………..Rain
Soaking Rain…………………………..Wet Rain
Wash-out…………………………………Rain (stay home)
Drought……………………………………Rain Next Tuesday
Tree Pollen Alert……………………..People Sneeze
Heat Index……………………………….People Move to California
Wind-chill………………………………..Cold
Lake Effect……………………………….Cold (stay home)
Arctic Air…………………………………..Cold (for Canada)
Dew Point…………………………………Meaningless Weather Obsession
Bomb Cyclone…………………………Patio Furniture into the Garage
Ice Fog………………………………………First Circle of Hell
Thunder Snow………………………….See: Lake Effect
Weather Watch………………………..Beer in Hand on Front Porch
Tropical Storm………………………….Now and Then Winter in Southern California
Weather Warning…………………….Beer in Hand in Basement
Hurricane…………………………………..I’d Rather Have an Earthquake
Truthfully, being raised in Southern California, I have never encountered a more weather-centric culture than the Tri-State (that’s New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, NOT Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky).
Also totally new to me is their weather-centrism, which, while totally legitimate as with Super-Storm Sandy, also carries over to weather-watching along the Southern-Atlantic Coast (because that’s where the hurricanes make landfall) as well as watching the West Coast of Africa (where the storms that become hurricanes originate).
Then again, I’ve also never known folks who would still rather live in a region where all that weather shit happens regularly, yet become visibly agitated when the idea of an adorable little 14-seconds-long-7-point-ohhhh earthquake in California finds its way into a casual weather conversation.
But that’s probably a blog post for some time in November, 2023.
And today’s question. Did you ever move from one part of the country or the world, to another distinctly different part of the country or the world? How did that change the way you think, about where you once were, as well as where you ended up?
This one, I’m extra curious about.
I’ll be reading.
Talk to you tomorrow.
William S. Friday 
Since I live in the Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky Tri-State, I much prefer that one.
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I was born and raised in PA and moved to California in 2012. It’s still an adjustment to be away from all the trees (sadly I was allergic to them anyways). The weather in S. California is definitely much nicer.
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I moved from PA to CA in 2012
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I moved from PA to CA in 2012. It was a big change but the biggest change was an unexpected health issue that arose a couple of months after moving and lasted me the greater part of 10 years
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I moved from the tri-state area (Indiana, Kentucky, and Indiana) to Georgia. That was quite a difference in weather.
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Feeling sheepish…lol I have always lived in California.
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Born and raised in Florida (heat and hurricanes), moved to Texas at 19 (heat and hurricanes), ten years later in 2009 moved to Cali (LA area). Had 6 earthquakes in the 18 months I lived in Cali, there was nothing “adorable” about any of them, and I’d take a hurricane any day cause I can prepare for it and I know it is coming, and I can run if I need to. Also for the must part hurricanes are the same – rain, wind, possible tornadoes and flooding. There is differences in earthquakes – rolling, shaking, sliding, vibrating.
What got me was when I did live in Cali how people seemed to freak over rain, especially if it thundered. I come from two states that have glorious thunderstorms and lightening shows. But maybe it was because I lived in the LA area.
The biggest change for me was it gets hotter in Texas than it does in Florida and colder in Texas than it does in Florida so that was a small adjustment but for the most part, the weather is very similar.
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Well..I’ve lived in the same locale my entire life so far. And UK weather is generally rain interspersed with some sunny spells! We get all kinds of rain, but flooding is more frequent now than it used to be especially in places like Wales, Scotland, and northern England (places like Yorkshire, for eg). I live in the south of our collection of isles, in the London area, so we probably get a bit more sun in spring and summer. But then with climate change we definitely are now more prone to extremes of weather – the summers have had extreme temperatures in the past few years. Our infrastructure isn’t really built for that – old houses retain heat and air conditioning isn’t common. I don’t mind rain so much, really. There are definitely different types – drizzle, sideways/horizontal, deluge, mist, April showers, freezing, warm, trickles, chucking down! We have far too many words for rain here 😀
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Well I moved to Ontario from the west coast of Canada and that changed everything (weather-wise and else-wise). From a relatively moderate climate with discernable four seasons (although we joke its just rain and construction season) to long cold winters and long humid summers and only 2ish weeks of spring/fall in between. Having “real winter” was fun but by March/April I’d really start wondering if winter would ever end. Summer was just awful. Back on the west coast now and I almost forgot I liked summer… but it’s pretty nice here! (when we aren’t under crazy and creatively-named weather warnings like heat bombs and atmospheric rivers!)
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I had the privilege of living on Oahu for 2.5 years. My fingernail marks still exist on the tarmac of the airport where they dragged me off the island kicking and screaming. When I returned (in December) to the east coast (inland South Carolina), I realized that I suffered from SAD. And here I thought I just hated being cold. 😉
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