Campus, Long Beach, News

First rainstorm of the season in Long Beach

By Paris Barraza & Mercedes Cannon

Students at Long Beach State darted to class in efforts to avoid the sudden rainstorm that overtook Southern California, Nov. 20. 

The rain, which began earlier Wednesday morning, is Southern California’s first rainstorm of the season. It is expected to bring scattered showers across the Inland Empire, Orange County and Los Angeles County, with potentially up to three-quarters of an inch of rain.  

As the weather quickly turned from sunny skies in the mid-80s, students were seen both bundled up and unprepared for the dark turn.

One student, Blake Yamamoto, a first-year political science major, wore a clear plastic trash bag over his sweatshirt as the rain poured down on him.

“I forgot to bring an umbrella,” Yamamoto said. “I was like, dude, it’s Long Beach.”

Yamamoto laughed at himself, saying he improvised his makeshift raincoat by asking the workers who were fixing the walls in his dorms to borrow a trash bag. 

C.J. Moore, a first-year human development major, walked to class huddled with his hair dripping wet. Moore assumed that the impending rainstorm was not going to be too extreme. 

“Now we’re stuck here in torrential downpours,” Moore said. 

One student, Taylor Partridge, a third-year art history major, appeared to be unprepared in a sweater dress. She admitted she enjoyed the rain and planned for it. 

“I think it was the heat that was killing me more,” Partridge said, referring to her first time on campus when she experienced dehydration from the extreme heat.  

Another student, Rachel Gledhill, a first-year kinesiology major, showed up wearing only shorts, a tank top and a backpack. Gledhill assumed it was going to stop raining by the late afternoon, shedding her jacket as she went to class. She shared her advice to fellow CSULB students in the same predicament.

“If you don’t like the rain, be prepared for it,” Gledhill said.

Rain is expected to clear up later Wednesday evening.

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