There are a lot of very strange differences between Washington, DC weather and San Jose, California weather — as one would expect. I’m still counting them, from San Jose’s total lack of thunderstorms (well, storms of any kind) to the absence of fireflies. But just now I realized something else that is missing here: clouds.
Yes, we get rainclouds, overcast days, and the like. But during the summer I’ve never seen the kind of everyday, puffy clouds that cheerfully hang over my old home back east. Case in point, here are two pictures from the live cameras just a few moments ago.
First, Washington, DC, and an idyllic summer scene:
Then, a view of the Santa Clara Valley at the same time:
In two years here, I’ve never seen puffy cumulous clouds lazily floating over this valley. The skies are always wide open, clear as a bell (except, of course, for smog). Living in a valley is like living in a big hole, the mountains keep the weather at bay and the only time we get anything interesting — like the unusual rain this week — it comes from the north, around the mountains and down the San Francisco Bay. Back in DC, there’s nothing to block the weather, so everything goes. And I kind of miss it.
