With El Niño all over the media, it’s hard not to reminisce about the rain. Thunderstorms and summertime go so well together.

Afternoon thunderstorms become a common thing if you grow up in a wet region. It gives you a feeling of relief after a long hot summer day, almost as if the weather has given you time out to sit and relax indoors, finally allowing yourself to take that overdue nap you have been contemplating all day long.

Living in California and enduring the driest of all seasons, gives us a whole new meaning to rain. Whenever we experience a thunderstorm it looks prettier than anything you have ever set eyes on before. Can we then blame how overly attached we are to rain, to this phenomenon? Maybe because of how ephemeral it is, Californians have transformed rain into this higher figure where we all pray for it to come our way.

We want it to rain as much as anyone else, nonetheless might we be heading off track when it comes to holding it responsible for curing the water scarcity? Many places in California get to experience summer thunderstorms often, however it doesn’t keep quite as snow does.

So, we should be praying for snow. Not rain.

It’s the snow that holds the water through the winter season and come spring melts into healthy rivers and streams that fill most reservoirs we rely on. In fact, melted snow counts for 30% of California’s water supply.

The snowpack this year was the lowest on record, and many didn’t even make it to the count because they hit the zero percentage. The state didn’t even bother with the last survey of the season because there wasn’t enough snow on the ground to measure.

Perhaps, someday the memories we have of winter days skiing down mountain tops will become as nostalgic as those summer thunderstorms. But for now, let’s pray for snow.