The groundhog was right.

On February 2, 2023, Punxsutawny Phil emerged from its burrow and saw its shadow, indicating six more weeks of winter.

Sure enough, Mother Nature delivered, walloping Southern California with a succession of rain and snow storms. Typically home to warm weather and sunny skies, this year’s recent barrage of storms has turned that notion on its head. Area mountains have received up to five feet of snow.

Throughout this extra long season, California has experienced several storms in the past few weeks coming off the coast, ranging from drizzles to downpours. This barrage of rain has not only affected the roads and beaches of the state, but also the lives, homes, and schools of its residents. 

Temperatures during the day would range between 56-58 degrees, while the rain continued non-stop. Through the months of July 2022 and January 2023, most Southern California cities have exceeded the amount of rain they typically get by 102-217 percent, according to ggweather.com.

While affecting all parts of California, San Juan Hills’ own staff members have been hit hard by the storm, especially the cleaning staff and custodians.

“Especially during the rainy season, the litter gets even worse. It’s mostly the freshmen who don’t clean up after themselves, which forces me to chase their wrappers and trash,” said Rico Galang, the head custodian of San Juan Hills High School.

San Juan Hills itself is also affected by heavy rainfall as well. When the combination of litter, wind direction and rain is just right, the section between the four main planters begins to flood, which students and staff have dubbed the “Lake of San Juan Hills.”

Other places throughout California have been affected by this rainfall as well.

“Areas of urban flooding developed, and swift-water rescues were made in Ontario and Anaheim. Snow on Highway 18 trapped scores of vehicles at 4,000 feet and along the Arctic Circle, closing the highway,” as stated in weather.gov’s weather summary for 2022.

Surfers of California were affected by the storms as well. Some didn’t even have the chance to surf, since “Officials chose to close several areas due to high surf from [Thursday, January 5th]’s powerful storms, including the beaches in Hermosa, Manhattan, and Ventura,” said California’s KTLA.

Though the storms have now passed, the effects they’ve had on Southern California won’t go away anytime soon. Water levels have increased all throughout the state, and with vegetation and plant life thriving, it appears this winter isn’t completely dreary after all.