According to Drake Weather, it's raining lightly this morning at 7:50 a.m. in Oakland, CA. I hate to break it to you Drake, but you're a goddamn liar. Although the air is heavy with humidity and it looks like the sky spat a few drops here and there sometime this morning, it's not raining YET.
If somehow you didn't know this already, California is in the middle of a serious drought. According to the Mercury News, "less rain fell in 2013 than in any year since California became a state in 1850" and 17 California communities are in danger of running out of water within two to four months. An even scarier article on International Business Times claims that we're in for "megadroughts," extreme dry weather phenomena that can last for years – like hundreds of years. We're not at that point yet (thank god), but the Bay Area hasn't seen more than .10" of rain in more than 50 days, which is troubling enough that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission announced on Tuesday that San Franciscans will be asked to voluntarily cut back its water usage by 10%.
The lack of rain is starting to make people act a bit goofy. All weekend, I heard people (even myself) sound almost guilty for enjoying the unseasonably beautiful weather, adding quickly to any praise of the sun, "but I really wish it would be raining." And in Discovery Bay, a town in Contra Costa County, residents will gather on February 8 for what they hope will be the world's largest rain dance. The gathering, they say, is to bring awareness to the drought, but I just think they wanna dance.
The good news is actual rain, not just spitting mist, looks to be a-comin' today and tomorrow. As of this morning, there's a 40-50% chance of showers tonight and up to a 60% chance that there'll be periods of some rainfall tomorrow. Don't get your hopes up; this tiny smattering of water is just a tiny drop in the bucket, but hey, we'll take it. And if we all gotta do some rain dancing to make ourselves feel a little better (or as the Discovery Bay townspeople say, to get more people to take this drought seriously), I'm all for it and have a few of my favorite wet weather-themed songs to add to the Rain Dance 2014 playlist:
"Prayers for Rain," The Cure
"Rain," the Beatles
"Walking in the Rain," the Ronettes
"Umbrella," Rihanna
"I Wish It Would Rain," The Temptations
"Happy When It Rains," The Jesus and Mary Chain
"The Rain Song," Led Zeppelin
"Purple Rain," Prince
"Have You Ever Seen the Rain," Creedence Clearwater Revival