Southern California is a relatively sunny place to live in, with mild temperatures pretty much year-round. At Webb, students are able to take advantage of the sun and all the opportunities it brings. But as the winter months approach, the weather starts to turn. The days get shorter, the air gets cooler, and the wind blows faster. Although Southern California’s winter conditions are not nearly as severe as those in other parts of the country, like New England and the Pacific Northwest, they can still be draining.
There is scientific evidence that gloomy, cold, or rainy weather can negatively affect peoples’ moods. In severe cases, this is called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Although Webb is located in Southern California, Webb students are not immune to the winter weather and its capacity to get their spirits down.
“I would say that we definitely see a trend of more illness, more difficulty sleeping, and just sort of general, funkier moods in the winter season.” said Melanie Bauman, Director of Counseling and Health Education. “That’s a real thing, and that has an impact on our mental health. It has an impact on our overall functioning and energy.”
Luckily, since the environment surrounding Webb is usually host to comfortable weather, SAD is much less common, as the areas most affected by SAD are areas where the weather is gloomy and cold the majority of the year. Here in Southern California, seasonal gloominess usually presents itself in more minor ways, such as not wanting to get out of bed or go to a sports practice.
“It definitely makes it more difficult to leave in the morning,” Jason Chang (‘27) said. “[The weather] makes it difficult to leave my bed, especially when it’s really cold.”
Southern California is usually in some sort of drought and the summer months are usually very dry. This makes rainfall very rare in this environment, and somewhat of a special occasion, with the Los Angeles area getting only around 34 days of rain a year. Although it is special when it happens, the rain can sometimes pose danger and annoyance, especially for drivers. The rain can lower a driver’s ability to see the road, and the wet road conditions make accidents more common.
“There’s more traffic, so we need to leave earlier,” Saira Bhagat (‘25) said. “Mr. Galarsa will sometimes get emails being like, ‘yeah, a little late because there was traffic because of the rain, we didn’t want to hydroplane on the road.”
Despite this, Webbies appreciate the rain when it happens and can even find joy in the way the raindrops glisten or the sound of the droplets hitting the ground.
“We don’t really get rain very often, so it makes me happy when we have rain, it doesn’t really affect my mood in a negative way.” Saira said. “It made me happier this year, just because I was happy to see that there was some kind of change in the weather.”
Webbies are lucky to live and go to school in a place with relatively pleasant weather, where rain and other forms of uncomfortable weather are rare. In places like Seattle and Portland, where grey skies and large amounts of rain are common, with 3-4 times as much rain as Los Angeles year round, SAD is significantly more common than in sunnier places like Southern California. For this reason, SAD is less common in the area surrounding Webb. Quite the contrary, as the sunny summer-like conditions can become tiresome, and the rain and differing weather can be a source of joy that shakes up the everyday routine.
