[anyfoo]

Another anecdote: In the South of Germany at least, long stretches of sunny days are often followed by sudden thunderstorms with equally sudden bursts of rain. That "fact" had been so deeply ingrained in me that it was subconscious. You'd have a careful feeling if it was hot for too long, suddenly you might find yourself running for the next awning to escape the torrential rain.

Sunny weather was a bit like building up a sort of pressure, that must release violently.

Took a while to let go of that feeling in California. It basically rains in winter, and does not rain in summer. Like, at all.

(Note that I moved away about a decade ago, climate may have changed in the meantime.)

[dan-robertson]

I hadn’t even thought of that until I read this. I had thought thunderstorms after hot weather were just a fact of life. I guess in places near German latitudes that get thunderstorms the hot weather is caused by high pressure systems but maybe that isn’t really the cause in California.

[barbazoo]

Coastal weather is often lacking the conditions that creates thunderstorms. I live near the coast now too and haven't experienced the kind of thunderstorm I know from Germany.

[Foobar8568]

I guess maybe in North Europe where the climate doesn't vary much, but in the South, we do get thunderstorm and flood in coastal area. https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/09/15/watch-as-more-floo...

[macNchz]

Depends on the coast I guess...NYC, for example, gets some real whopper summer thunderstorms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk3Gz9o9yw4&t=12s

[bee_rider]

Have you been to the Midwest? I grew up near Cape Cod, and I have to say -- I'll take a nor'easter any day, give me the snow. That "maybe a tornado will just come down and demolish your house" type thunderstorm is pretty scary! I'm glad we've got a calm atmosphere up here.

[s0rce]

Midwestern USA has similar stretch of hot summer followed by thunderstorms.

[jsjohnst]

May (followed by April and June) are the most active months for storms, especially tornado producing ones in virtually every state in the Midwest USA, well before “hot summer” days.

[prottog]

> It basically rains in winter, and does not rain in summer. Like, at all.

You needn't have moved so far from southern Germany to experience that! Lack of rain in the summer is a defining characteristic of the Mediterranean climate. You would have experienced the same a few hundred miles south. :-)

[gonzo41]

Thats what we used to have in Australia, and now it just rains. It's killing my morale atm.

[wrycoder]

When I frequented Portola Valley, we called it six months of mud, six months of dust. Those golden hills are actually brown.

[Fatnino]

The climate did change. Now it hardly rains in the winter either.