San Diego residents remained comfortably warm as the Winter Olympics commenced in Vancouver last Friday. While most of America is currently covered with several feet of snow, you would never know it here in Southern California.

Locals watched as snowboarders carved up half pipes like surfers riding massive waves; however residents had no such analogy for the bizarre sports of curling and skeleton. Icy pastimes like speed skating and bobsledding remain unfamiliar to this temperate town, so it’s only natural San Diego feels left out when the world comes together to celebrate a winter never seen at home.

Athletes in sunny San Diego are warm-blooded – they prefer long runs on the beach over tobogganing. This means that locals who dream of competing at the Winter Olympics are exiled from the temperate coastal city to somewhere more appropriate to train.

Figure skater Rachel Flatt is an example of this – the Del Mar native grew up skating at the UTC ice rink, but moved to Colorado to pursue her Olympic goals. She is now competing in 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Carlsbad snowboarder Shaun White wasn’t shredding fresh powder on any local sandy hillsides as a kid. Now he’s going for his second gold medal in Vancouver.

Though this town has bred several Winter Olympians, it will never host the Winter Games. San Diego is arguably the least snow-savvy city in the country. Residents are thankful that their winters don’t involve black ice, snow shovels or tire chains. Many can’t understand why anyone would choose to live where the temperature falls below 60 degrees.