Our groups focus was on temperature and precipitation in the state
of California. We divided the state into thirs and each chose two cities
from our third.. Each person chose one inland and one coastal city
of equal latitudes. The purpose of dividing the state into thirds
and choosing two cities one on the coast and the other well inland with
equal latitude is for three reasons; 1.To discover how much effect the
ocean has on the temperature and precipitation. 2. To see how
natural geography can influence temperature and precipitation. 3.
To see how much effect latitude has on the climate in the way of temperature
and precipitation.
The first two cities were taken from the most northern tip of
California. The coastal town chosen for date was Crecent city and the inland
town chosen was Tulelake. Both of these towns lie close to the 41
degree latitude line and are about 150 miles apart. The major landforms
that will influence the weather between the two towns are the Klamath and
Siskiyon mountain ranges.
The first thing that will be discussed about these towns is the
difference in precipitation. In the month of January Crecent city
received 11.66 inches of rain where Tulelake only received 1.16 inches
of rain. In the month of April Crecent city recieves 5.06 inches
of rain and no snow while Tulelake recieves 1.2 inches of rain and also
received 1.2 inches of snow. In July the average rainfall was just .9 inches
while Tule lake recieved zero inches of rainfall. In october Crecent
city recieves 5.24 inches of rain while Tule lake received just .1 inches
of rain and .1 inches of snow.
Another data set of importance is that of the Average Maximum and minimum temperatures. This information has been broken down into months the same way as the precipitation information. In Crecent city the average Maximum temperature is 54.8 degrees and the average minimum temperature is 40.3 degrees. However in tulelake the maximum temperature is 40.2 degrees and the average minimum temperature is 19.4 degrees. In April Crecent cities maximum temperature was 43.1 degrees and it’s minimum falls at 43.1 degrees. Conversely in Tulelake the maximum temperature for April is about 59.5 with a low of 29.1 degrees. Crecent cities Julys have a maximum average of 65.5 degrees and they have a minimum of 50.8 degrees. In Tulelake the temperatures are much warmer with an 84 maximum and a cool 45.6 for a low. The last month we used was October. Crecent had a maximum temperature of 63.9 degrees with a low of 47.1 degrees. In Tulelake the temperature remains very stable with an average temperature of a constant 30 degrees for a maximum and a minimum.
The second region take into account in our study was the middle
third of California. The two cities that are being used for data
points are the cities of Bodie and Kentfield. Like the first pair
of cities chosen the cities are on equal latitudinal planes to ensure that
the difference in
climate does not differ because of different latitudes. Also
taken into account will be the geographical features of the region.
With this in mind we hope to characterize the climate of this region by
its latitude and geography comparing temperature and pressure.
Kentfield is the coastal city that we chose to study. It
is located in the middle of a small peninsula. It is not directly
on the water but it is very close. The average annual temperature
for Kentlake from the selected months we are dealing with are as follows.
In January the average maximum temperature is 39.7 degrees while the average
minimum temperature is 5.7 degrees. In the inland city of Bodie,
the average maximum temperature for January is 55.4 degrees and the average
minimum temperature is 39.1 degrees. In April the average maximum temperature
in Kentlake is 69.8 degrees and the average minimum degrees is 44.2 degrees.
The average maximum temperature in Bodie is 49.8 degrees and the average
minimum temperature is 17.5 degrees. In July in Kentlake the average maximum
temperature is 84.2 degrees and the average minimum temperature is 51.1
degrees. In Bodie the average maximum temperature is 76.4 degrees
and the average minimum temperature is 35.3 degrees. Finally in October
the average maximum temperature is 74 degrees in Kentfield with a low of
48.1. In Bodie the high is 59.8 and the low is 19.5. The coastal
maximum average is actually greater than the inland average however the
relative difference between high and low average temperatures is much greater
in the inland city. In January the difference is 34 degrees and the
difference for Kentlake is only 16.3 degrees. In April the difference
in Bodie is 32.3 degrees and in Kentlake it is 25.6 degrees. In July
the difference is 41.1 degrees and in Kentlake it is 33.1 degrees.
In October the difference is 40.3 degrees in Bodie and In Kentlake the
difference is only 26.8 degrees. This shows that the inland city
has more ability in releasing its infared radiation out into the atmosphere.
Another drastic difference in climate between the two cities
was precipitation. Kentlake received on average 11.4 inches of rain
in January
while Bodie only received 1.86 inches. In April Kentlake received
2.84 inches and Bodie received .92 inches. In July Kentfield received
.08 inches and bodie received no rain and in October Kentlake received
2.61 inches and again bodie received no precipitation.
The third area has similar results as the first two. Blythe
and longbeach are both located at the bottom of California on the same
latitudional line. Longbeach is located directly on the coast and Blythe
is located well inland.
The max temperature for January for longbeach is 66.8 degrees and its
minimum is 45.4 degrees. In Blythe the max temperature is 67.5 degrees
and the minimum temperature is 38.3 degrees. The maximum temperature
for April is 72.1 and the low is 52.3 in Longbeach. In Blythe the
maximum temperature is87.5 and the minimum is 53.2 degrees. In longbeach
the maximum temperature is 82.6 in July and the minimum is 63.5.
In Blythe the maximum is 108.5 and the low is 76.1 degrees. In October
the Maximum temperature is 78.5 and the low is 57.9 degrees in Longbeach.
In Blythe the high temperature on average is 90.6 and the low is 56 degrees.
The average difference between the highs and the lows for the months are
as follows. For longbeach the difference is 21.4 degrees for January while
in Blythe the
difference is 29.2. In september the temperature difference is
19.6 while in Blythe the temperature difference is 34.3 degrees.
THE average difference in Longbeach in July is 19.1 degrees while in Blythe
the average difference is 32.4 degrees. In October the average difference
in Longbeach is 20.6 degrees while in Blythe the average difference is
34.6. Of these two areas the inland area cools much faster.
The Precipitation for Longbeach is as follows, In January it
gets 2.81 inches. In April the get .69 inches. In July the
get .02 inches and in
October the get .25 inches. Ion Blythe in January the get .48
inches. In April they get .12 inches. In July they get .17
inches and in October they get .28 inches.
Well the first question to answer is why are the temperatures
like the are on the coast and like they are inland for California.
The thing that is most siginificant is the mountains that separate the
coast from the inland. This is what makes the east parts of California
significantly drier and allows for more rapid cooling of the air.
Radiation radiated back into the air is trapped by moisture causing the
land to cool slower. This is what happens in costal areas.
In inland dry climates there is little moisture to trap the radiation so
the energy is released cooling the area faster. In conclusion it
is easy to see that the ocean does in fact moderate the temperatures as
well as provide a significant amount of rainfall. At the same time
the mountains steal all the moisture from the clouds creating a rain shadow
so east of the mountains is dry and warm in the summer and dry and cold
in the winter. Latitude also has a part to do with the temperature.
The further south you go the higher the temperatures and the less rainfall.
All this together play a major role in the difference in climate in California
between it’s east and west borders.