According to Jay Lund‘s californiawaterblog.com, 2021 is the third driest year in more than 100 years of official tabulating. And 2020 was the 9th driest year. I can’t recall the last time Los Angelenos were seriously rain-soaked, and I doubt if anyone else can. But try to imagine heavy precipitation hitting Los Angeles for three days straight. Not a prayer, right? But it happened during the historic L.A. snowfall of January 1949. Excerpt: “Snow began falling on Los Angeles around noon on Monday, 1.10.49.** L.A.’s beaches were blanketed for the first time since January 1932, and the last time it snowed more in San Bernardino was 1882.”

** In ’90 I read a draft of Robert Towne‘s The Two Jakes, which, under Jack Nicholson‘s direction, lacked the haunting vibe of Chinatown and wasn’t much good in other respects. But the script ended beautifully with two or three shots of Raymond Chandler‘s mean streets covered in snow.