To Live and Gloat in LA's Winter Warmth

Unseasonably warm temperatures here, and cold weather elsewhere, lead to boasting

The front-page headline on Thursday's print edition of the Riverside Press-Enterprise says it all: "Now aren't you glad that you live here?"

It's a reference to the weather, of course, and it's further emphasized by some of Southern California's recent, unseasonably high temperatures highlighted in red ink and bold 30-point type: Riverside, 85; Hemet, 79; Temecula, 84; Corona, 86.

It says what so many Los Angelenos are either thinking, or posting on our Facebook pages, much to the disgust of our friends in cooler climates.

Is it gloating? Perhaps. But it might also be a bit of payback for all those times a news correspondent from someplace like New York City has delighted in degrading Los Angeles for being weather-challenged.

What was it former New York Times scribe Charlie LeDuff said about LA: "To New Yorkers, an inch of rain may seem a pittance, but to Angelenos, it is like a foot of snow."

You know where Charlie was Thursday? In Snow. In Detroit, where the front-page centerpiece of the Detroit News screamed "DEEP FREEZE" and the temperature at 9 a.m. was 1 degree Fahrenheit.

Not that we wish any ill will on our friend Charlie. He's a talented writer, an affable guy, and, no doubt, very, very sorry at this moment that he ever left LA.

It's so cold in Chicago that news organizations are publishing danger alerts warning of wind chills down to more than 40 below.

Meanwhile, headlines at the UCLA student newspaper, The Daily Bruin, on Thursday were all about LA's "heat wave," with stories explaining how some student athletes are having to adjust their training regimens because of the high temperatures.

Ah, to live and gloat in LA.

-- TJ Sullivan

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us