Not true. Not like the rest of the country. For instance in So. Cal when we generally get an inch or two of rain out of a storm, we consider it a pretty big storm, most of the rest of the country laughs. No, we here don't get anything like most of the rest of the country gets, as far as weather goes. We are truly spoiled here as far as the weather goes.
Driving in the mountains in January,you should be ready for snow
That I will agree with as you are talking about elevations between 5,000 and 10,000 feet near the peaks. I've been up in those mountains thousands of times since was a kid, lived there and owned property there and have family there. I've seen wild fires up there close up, where we didn't think we'd make it out, and winter snow almost 6 feet deep, and deeper near the peaks, where nothing moved, I mean *nothing*.
I have great respect for those mountains in even perfect weather.
What many don't understand about California, is you can be in a big city, at an Angel game, or whatever, and within an hour or so you can be in true wilderness, at 8000 foot elevations where things happen *real* fast. Many that come up for an outing, just don't understand, it's a different world.
Lived in Idaho and New Mexico,tell me somthing about weather I dont know!Live on the east coast now.