CA News and Weather and Traffic

I usually start the day sitting at the counter and drinking coffee and listening to NPR while I try to wake up. We have the usual world and national news and California news. But it is not the same as NPR news in Maine. California is the size of a small country and is often in national news. So, we have world news.... and national news with California in many stories.... and California news. Our radio station is not just a San Jose station, but a "Bay Area" station. I'm still not sure what that includes. It seems to be a HUGE area. So our local news includes murders in Oakland (45 min to 1 hour away), San Francisco events (1 hour away), Morgan Hill and Gilroy information (45 minutes south).... I need a map next to my coffee cup just to understand where events are happening. And then there is the weather report..... Sunny, partly sunny, partly cloudy with sun in the afternoon, a small chance of rain and then sunny. Mark says that they record a standard spring-summer-fall weather report and just run that until the "bad weather" of winter arrives. Then they add "chance of rain" and "cold" to the standard report. Now, I must confess, I am not really complaining. In fact, when it is "cold" (mid 40's) in the morning, I shiver and look for warm sweaters.
The best part of the news is the traffic report. Have you ever noticed, when you travel to new cities, that the traffic report is like listening to a foreign language? When in Denver, we used to hear about "slowing in the Mousetrap". I drove into Denver MANY times and NEVER saw any mice or traps. Here, it is all numbers and bridges and towns in the "Bay Area". So I hear "slowing on the 580 West" and "congestion on the approach to the San Mateo bridge" and "the 880-280 intersection is backed up". I don't usually listen. I don't know where these places are and I am driving less. But then I went on the Quilt Shop Hop...... And the other morning, I heard "slowing on the 4 in Antioch". I'VE BEEN THERE I announced to Mark. "What?" I've been ON the 4 IN Antioch. That is SO cool. Mark wasn't as enthusiastic about it as I was. I now pay attention to the traffic report - I KNOW where the 880 meets the 280 and I've driven on the ONE highway that brings traffic from Livermore into the "Bay Area" - the 580 - which connects into the 680 that feeds into the 880 and then the 101 or the 280, depending on your destination. The number soup can be confusing to the listener, but for us EXPERIENCED Bay Area residents, it all makes sense.