Southern California
has 3 basic climate zones as illustrated in fig #1.
Fig.#
1
The
coastal plain... Somewhat Mediterranean climate with little
season to season change in temperature. The mountains... have
almost a alpine environment. A big change in the weather come
each season. Finally the deserts have the driest and warmest
of the three climate zones in southern California. Annual
rainfall often doesn't exceed an inch in many spots.
Temperatures during the winter lower below freezing and in the
summer it will rise above 110 degrees. There also can be as
much as a 40 degree temperature difference between night and
day. For the humidity... the humidity has been reported as low
as 2% but normally during the summer it ranges between 8 to
15%.
The deserts of southern California formed
entirely on the wind patterns and the terrain
to the
westof the deserts. The winds 90% of an average year flows
from the west/southwest onshore to the coastal plains as
described in Fig. # 2. Then the winds upslope the mountains
ranges. Finally... the winds will downslope the east side of
the mountains, compresses, heats up and dries out.
Here are some average
yearly precipitation amounts for a few desert
cities...
Southland Weather
The
coastal plain... Somewhat Mediterranean climate with little
season to season change in temperature. The mountains... have
almost a alpine environment. A big change in the weather come
each season. Finally the deserts have the driest and warmest
of the three climate zones in southern California. Annual
rainfall often doesn't exceed an inch in many spots.
Temperatures during the winter lower below freezing and in the
summer it will rise above 110 degrees. There also can be as
much as a 40 degree temperature difference between night and
day. For the humidity... the humidity has been reported as low
as 2% but normally during the summer it ranges between 8 to
15%.
The deserts of southern California formed
entirely on the wind patterns and the terrain
to 
