....

1. Khang Nguyen
&
Hung Pham
Earth Science
Period 2

2. • Temperatures in California
• Temperature Range
• Climate Zones
• Rainfall
• Rain-Shadow Zones
• Cold Fronts
• The “Pineapple Express”
• Annual Precipitation
• Wild Fire
• Tule Fog
• May Gray/June Gloom
• Earthquake Weather

4.  The temperature gradient
between immediate coast and
low-lying inland valleys in the
south is about 7 °F (4 °C) in
winter and in summer roughly
25 °F (14 °C).
 Palm Springs, a city in the
Coachella Valley, averages
high/low/mean temperatures
of 75°F/50°F/63°F,
(24°C/10°C/17°C) respectively
during the period of cooler
weather form Nov. to Apr.
 At the Santa Monica coast, the
average high in August is 75 °F
(24 °C), while in Burbank,
approximately 10 miles (16 km)
inland, the average high in August
is 90 °F (32 °C); a temperature gain
over one degree per mile.
 The temperature gradient is most
extreme between Santa Barbara
and Death Valley, with
temperatures between the two
differing by 4 °F and 35 °F (2 °C
and 20 °C) in the winter and
summer.

5. • The topography in
California and California’s
location near the Pacific
Ocean have created
diverse
climate patterns in the
state.
The climate in California
ranges from cool and wet
to
hot and dry. Rainfall
patterns have a large
impact on California’s

6. • The two air masses that most often cause rain in
California during the winter are shown in the
picture.
• These air masses are the Maritime Polar Pacific air
mass and the Maritime Tropical Pacific air mass.
• As these air masses enter the mid-latitudes, they
are driven across the Pacific Ocean toward
California by the winds of the prevailing westerly.
• As these air masses move over the Pacific Ocean,
they absorb moisture from the evaporation of ocean
water.

7. • The California Coast Ranges
and the Sierra Nevada
create rain-shadow zones.
Rainfall is heavy along the
western side of the Coast
Ranges and the Sierra
Nevada. Much less rain,
however, occurs on the
eastern side of these
mountains. Thus, semi-arid
interior valleys and arid
deserts have formed on the
eastern side of the
mountains.

8. • As Maritime Polar Pacific air mass moves southeast
toward California in the winter, the air mass meets
warmer air from the mid-latitudes.
• The air mass pushes the warm air upward and forms a
cold front.
• Rain often begins to fall over the Pacific Ocean before
the cold front reaches the California Coast.
• If rain does not begin over the ocean, then mountains
will determine where rain will occur in inland California.

9. • Along a cold front, conditions that cause a low-pressure,
counter clockwise circulation of the atmosphere may
develop.
• The southern part of this circulation pattern produces
southwesterly winds.
• As these winds move father southward, they pull air
from the Maritime Tropical Pacific air mass into southern
California.
• The result is warm, tropical rain in southern California.
The name “Pineapple Express” refers to this warm,
moist air that comes from the Pacific Ocean near

10. • Westerly winds from the oceans also bring moisture, and the
northern parts of the state generally receive higher annual rainfall
amounts than the south.
• Northwestern California has a temperate climate with rainfall of 15
inches (380 mm) to 50 inches (1,300 mm) per year. Some areas of
Coast Redwood forest receive over 100 inches (2,500 mm) of
precipitation per year.
• The Central Valley has a wide range of precipitation.
• The northern parts of the Central Valley receive substantially
greater precipitation from winter storms which sweep down from
the Pacific Northwest, while the southernmost regions of the
Central Valley are near desert-like because of a lack of
precipitation.

11. • The high mountains, including the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade
Range, and the Klamath Mountains, have a mountain climate with
snow in winter and mild to moderate heat in summer.
• On the east side of the mountains is a drier rain shadow.
California's desert climate regions lie east of the high Sierra
Nevada and Southern California's Transverse Ranges and
Peninsular Ranges.
• The low deserts east of the southern California mountains,
including the Imperial and Coachella valleys and the lower
Colorado River, are part of the Sonoran Desert, with hot summers
and nearly frostless mild winters; the higher elevation deserts of
eastern California, including the Mojave Desert, Owens Valley, and
the Modoc Plateau, are part of the Great Basin region, with hot

12. • Summers are typically hot and dry, particularly
in the southern areas.
• This makes them prone to wildfires.
• These can be life threatening and cause
evacuation.
• Wildfires are less common along the coast
because of the cool humid summers, but can
occur in autumn when the Marine layer is less
common making it warm and dry.
• This is the 2nd
Largest Wild Fires In California.

13. • A thick ground fog that settles in the San Joaquin
Valley and Sacramento Valley areas of the California
Central Valley.
• Tule fog forms during the mid fall, winter to early
spring after the first significant rainfall.
• This phenomenon is named after the Tule grass
wetlands of the Central Valley.
• Tule fog can extend from Bakersfield to Chico.
• Accidents caused by the Tule fog are the leading
cause of weather-related deaths in California; visibility
is usually less than an eighth of a mile (about 600 feet
or 183–200 m), but can be less than 10 feet (3 m).
• This here is a Tule Fog covering the paradise at dawn.

14. • A characteristic
weather pattern of late
spring (May and June)
in which a combination
of inland heat, off-shore
cool water, and
prevailing wind patterns
bring foggy and
overcast weather to
coastal regions. From
Point Conception
northwards the gloom
continues until early
autumn.
• This was over LA
where the
“May Gray/June Gloom”
happened.

15. • Any unseasonal, uncomfortable weather,
typically hot and more humid than usual, and
often associated with high and mid-level clouds,
is spoken of (usually jokingly) as "earthquake
weather”.

16. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_California
#Temperaturerange
• http://www.city-data.com/states/California-
Climate.html
• Most information are gathered from Earth
Science book.