The herald., 1896-03-08
CLIMATOLOGY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
BY r. r. MINER

"rainy season" is over; or again rain
may not come until January. Its
mode of procedure varies greatly and
no two winters in many years are
alike. In an unusually wet winter the
! precipitation is less than that of wet
summer in the east, and the sunny
days far exceed those on which the
rain falls. The rainfall decreases as
one goes south, from a hundred or
more inches in some places at the
north to about ten inches near the
Mexican line. The first rains some
times cause floods, but this is not be-
cause of the great quantity of rain
that falls, but because of the extreme
dryness of the soil and the lack of veg
citation, which allows the water to run
off rapidly. The dry bed of a stream
will sometimes in less than an hour be
transformed into a raging torrent; but
these floods do no harm except occasion
ally to ranch directly on the bank of
the stream. A very wet winter is usu-
ally followed by winter in which lit
tie rain falls, the precipitation in the
former being usually very heavy and
generally in the night, but as the say
ing is, "All signs fail In California"
and as regards the weather, it is un-
doubtedly true. The average rainfall
of Southern California is fifteen inches
and the average temperature is, for
January, 55 degrees, and for July 70
degrees. The California rains are reg
ulated according to the amount and
extent of the cyclonic disturbance
which originates and moves with the
Japan current. These conditions also
nvsa hn ~ hn lnd
''dry season." In regard to the causes
of the California rainfall, Lieutenant
John P. Finley, U. S. A., says:
precipitation over any region, one must
acteristics of q cyclonic disturbance.
Such information is especially neces-
sary regarding the rainfall of Califor-
mia, for its occurrence and distribution
are peculiar and unlike in some re-
spects that of any other state.
1.-THE two meteorological seasons of
California are dependent for their
proximate occurrence upon the dis
turbances between the fortieth and
flftieth parallels and the rate of pro-
gress eastward, together with the en-
ergy displayed between the Pacific
ocean and the hundredth meridian. In
short, the cyclones move farther south
and are of greater energy in winter (the
wet season') than in summer (the dry
season.. A careful examination of the
charts in the office of the weather bu-
reau will show very clearly that the
weather over any region depends upon
the relation of the latter to the quad
rant of the passing cyclonic or anti
cyclonic disturbance. According as
one or another of the quadrants covers
any region, so will be the successive
phases of weather therein. All
forms of atmospheric precipita-
tion are distributed over the
earth through the agency Of
these systems of air circulation. They
are of enormous extent and great
power, drawing moisture from all
available sources, carrying it to great
heights in the atmosphere, where, by q
marked change in its surroundings, the
vapor is transformed into water and
falls again upon the earth. The physi-
cal forces Of evaporation and condensa-
tion cannot fulfil their mission without
the assistance of adequate means for
setting up and maintaining a system of
circulation throughout the lower re-
gions of the atmosphere.
"The dry region of the United States
| can never be other than it is 80 far as
atmospheric conditions are concerned
without great physical changes which
would completely reverse the circula-
tion of the Japan current in the North
Pacific ocean, and bring it nearer the
California coast. 1t must needs bathe
this coast, as does the gulf stream the
coast of the south and middle Atlantic
states. Then would the dry re-
gion become in weather and
climate and in vegetation as that
OF the gulf and south Atlantic
States. We find that the weather Of
California, like that of any other re-
gion, is dependent upon the atmo-
spheric conditions surrounding it for
hundreds Of miles. II it we're nearer
the cyclone belts its two famous sea-
sons, the "wet" and the "dry" would be
changed into more uniform distribu-
tion of precipitation throughout the
year and a less uniform distribution of
temperature. Such modification of
it's climate would be detrimental to
some of California's greatest indus
trial pursuits. Its variety of climate
and weather is unrivaled in the United
States, and therefore the peculiar adap-
| 1aDlllLy VI Ju6 SLdLo LUZ lt5 SLOWbA VI tuo
choicest fruits, grasses and cereals.
Its geographical position is such that
the seasonal fluctuations OF the North
Pacific cyclone belt carries the rain
area far to north and protects the crops
that would otherwise suffer severely
from heavy cloudbursts and drenching
rains.
Lieutenant Finley, referring to the
climate as it affects health, says: ''The-
oretically California should furnish
the best and most varied health resorts
and sanitariums IN the United States.
Within her borders most every form of
wasting disease should find the means
of temporary If not permanent relief"
In regard to Southern California these
conditions have been found to be prac-
tioable. Nearly every one suffering
from disease who has resided here has
been greatly benefited by the mild
| climate. The climate of the depressed
| ovoto uoar thu dauort ia ospociollv han,