For reasons we find difficult to articulate, your Lost Coast Outpost likes to celebrate the first rainstorm of the season with Fela Kuti’s classic cut from 1977, “Mr. Follow Follow.”

“I just had to get out of my car,” one of our coworkers said just now, popping into the office. “People are driving like idiots!”

Don’t drive like idiots, people. Take special care, because the first rains of the season — which is what we have going on right now, and sorry if you haven’t gotten your crop in yet — those first rains of the season tend to wash up all the oil and grime that has accumulated over the summer months. Things get especially slippy-slidey.

Slow down and enjoy the beautiful rain. It’s probably going to last through Tuesday or so. Click that link for up-to-the-minute updates from the National Weather Service. And heed this Hazardous Weather Outlook that the NWS is putting out there on the streets, including the little touches of poetry — “a rumble or two of thunder” — that the Miltons on Woodley Island throw in for our delectation:

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA 504 AM PDT FRI SEP 20 2013 CAZ001>004-076-211215- REDWOOD COAST-MENDOCINO COAST-NORTH COAST INTERIOR- UPPER TRINITY RIVER-MENDOCINO INTERIOR- 504 AM PDT FRI SEP 20 2013

HIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE…TODAY AND TONIGHT. RAIN WILL SPREAD ACROSS THE REGION FRIDAY. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE QUARTER TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH ARE EXPECTED NORTH OF FORT BRAGG WITH A TENTH TO A QUARTER OF AN INCH EXPECTED ACROSS SOUTHERN AND INLAND MENDOCINO AND EASTERN TRINITY COUNTIES. A RUMBLE OR TWO OF THUNDER IS POSSIBLE LATE TODAY ACROSS EASTERN TRINITY COUNTY. THIS WILL BE THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL OF THE SEASON FOR MANY AREAS…SO ROADWAYS MAY BECOME SLICK DUE TO ACCUMULATED OIL. WHILE AREA RIVERS AND CREEKS WILL SEE ONLY SLIGHT RISES, AREAS NEAR BURN SCARS FROM THIS SUMMERS WILDFIRES WILL BE AT RISK FOR LOCALIZED FLOODING AND SMALL SCALE DEBRIS FLOWS.

DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN…SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. A SECONDARY DISTURBANCE WILL MAINTAIN SHOWERS SATURDAY WITH A RUMBLE OR TWO OF THUNDER POSSIBLE ACROSS THE COASTAL PLAIN. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL OF A QUARTER TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH IS LIKELY ON AVERAGE ALTHOUGH THE RAINFALL WILL BE MORE VARIABLE IN NATURE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT… SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EUREKA. FOR FURTHER DETAILS PLEASE REFER TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR WEATHER.GOV/EUREKA.