El Niño Broke My Arm

California has finally been relieved from its drought, thanks to the El Niño rain. Many Californians have been grateful because of the long overdue rain, but their reactions to it have been somewhat paradoxical.

You might expect that people would jump up and down, dance in the rain, or stash away their umbrellas and embrace the falling rain. However, many people have been dressing up in layers and getting alarmed at the slightest chances of rain. They hurriedly pull out their umbrellas, even if it’s only sprinkling, and avoid the rain as much as they can. This behavior can be labeled as the typical overreaction of the Southern Californians.

Southern California is known to very sensitive to any cases of weather that are not filled with sunshine and are not above the sixties. So, when El Niño swept across Southern California, the population’s reaction did not come as a total surprise. The news was quickly filled with articles mocking Southern Californians as wimps. However, Californians have justifications behind their reactions and thoughts.

Nick An, a University High School sophomore, stated that he was not “used to the rain due to the [normal] California weather” and such lack of exposure led him “to do careless things such as slipping in the rain and breaking [his] arm.” He explained that it was because Southern Californians “aren’t used to seeing rain, [and] it was very strange to experience such continued rain when we have not experienced it in a long time.”

Indeed, this injury is one, very extreme case, but it isn’t the only case out there. There are other Californians who have hurt themselves by overreacting to the El Niño weather and have experienced the same desperation and determination to avoid the rain.

Aria Li, also a sophomore at Uni High School from chilly Seattle, stated, “I do think that Californians overreact a little but I guess it’s kind of expected. I wasn’t really surprised when I saw them overreact, [because] it’s mostly sunny all year so Californians aren’t used to the rain.”

However, she stated that she “thought people who carried around umbrellas were overreacting a little because a lot of people in Seattle don’t have umbrellas, and [also] people who avoided the rain at all costs.” She summed it up by stating, “Although Californians [do] overreact, they aren’t too over the top; there are still plenty of people in Seattle who do not enjoy the rain, avoid it, [and] some even have umbrellas!”

As voiced by my fellow Southern Californians, we indeed tend to exaggerate ourselves and overreact to El Niño weather. It will be difficult, long way coming before we realize that weather below the sixties is not an emergency and that we do not need to go to the nearest store to stock up on food and buy 3 pairs of rain boots. Southern Californians will continue to overreact from the eyes of those living in sub-zero weather and waking up each day to sweep snow off their driveways, as El Niño continues to provide drought-ridden California with some rain and maybe even thunderstorms!