Anecdotal Evidence - California

A good statistician will tell you that those two words – anecdotal and evidence – never belong next to each other.  But I am only a mediocre statistician so I proceed without fear to present some anecdotal evidence from our recent trip to California.

California must have more Priuses and Teslas per capita than other states. 

Evidence:

Every time we went somewhere in the car, I saw at least 2 Priuses and 1 Tesla, and often saw more.

 It couldn’t possibly be that

a)    I was a passenger and not the driver so I had more time to look.

b)    When we went somewhere we spent at least an hour on the highway getting there.

c)     The highway is 5 to 7 lanes across (in each direction) so there are loads more cars to notice in Southern California than in Southwestern PA.

The title of this painting is "Cairo" by Julie Mehretu, but it gives something of the feeling of being on the
highways around Los Angeles.  This painting is huge.  We saw it at The Broad museum in L.A.

Note:  Internet research has shown me some actual statistics that California is, indeed, denser with hybrid & electric cars than other states, just as Western Pennsylvania is dense with Presbyterians.  But that research was several days ago, and I didn’t save it, so you’ll just have to go with my anecdotal evidence.

(Portrait of the author's hips as reflected in the bumper of a Prius)
When I counted Priuses, I didn't count the
one we were riding in.

Note: Maybe the plural of Prius is Priusses.  Or Prii. Thoughts?

In Long Beach, CA, they have
battery-powered buses.  

Pittsburgh gets Southern California’s share of rain (and then some).

Evidence:  We were in California for 7 days.  It did get cloudy, but it did not rain once.   Every time I looked at the weather map for back home, there was a huge blob of nasty precip over our house. 

And then we had so much rain here on this past Thursday that the Park-n-Ride bus stop was flooded and a huge sinkhole opened up on a nearby road.  Meanwhile, all we’ve heard about California is a few earthquakes, but no rain.  I stand by my anecdotal evidence.

Clouds but no rain, in Southern California