"Nathan Gilliatt" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Blueskies" wrote:

We did the So. California to visit grandma and grampa for Christmas last week
and were greeted with the severe winter storm warnings. It must have rained
a whole 3-5 inches the entire time we were there. [...] There were wrecks
all over the place, pretty amazing

The thing about Southern California is that a foot of rain is all they
get in a year. The roads have a buildup of oil and muck that doesn't
wash off with the first drops, so the roads are slippery until it rains
enough to wash them off. The really scary part is the runoff into the
channelized rivers, which are dry until they flood. Then they run fast
and furious, and you can't just climb out the side if you fall in. Lots
of drama for the fast-water rescue teams.

I thought I saw much higher rainfall totals for SoCal last week, too.
But I did get a chuckle when our local (NC) news picked up the story of
snow in SoCal, near LA--without mentioning what, exactly, I-5 does north
of the LA area...

http://www.thealpacastore.com/grapevinecam/page2.html

The funny thing is they already had the rain earlier to wash the roads off. The flood control is much better now than it
was back in hte early 70's - there was very little 'flooding' under the overpasses.

I know what you mean about the Grapevine - sort of a sleeping giant. I remember trying to get an old '59 microbus up
that grade, down to second gear with big rigs passing us...