348 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



the climate of Santa Barbara over the places mentioned. The table is as 

 follows: 



Santa Barbara, Mentone, and San Remo's Comparative Temperature Tables. 



Month. 



Mean Average Monthly 

 Temperature at 

 Santa Barbara. 



Mean Average Monthly 



Temperature at 



Mentone, France. 



Mean Average Monthly 

 Temperature at 

 San Eemo, Italy. 



January 



February.- 



March 



April 



May 



June - 



July - 



August - 



September... - -- 



October 



November 



December 



Average for twelve months 



54.3 

 55.6 

 56.4 

 58.3 

 60.2 

 62.6 

 65.7 

 67.0 

 65.6 

 62.1 

 58.0 

 55.3 



48.2 

 48.5 

 52.0 

 57.2 

 63.0 

 70.0 

 75.0 

 75.0 

 69.0 

 64.0 

 54.0 

 49.0 



47.2 

 50.2 

 52.0 

 57.0 

 62.9 

 69.2 

 74.3 

 73.8 

 70.6 

 61.8 

 53.3 

 49.3 



60.1 



60.4 



60.1 



The lowest temperature ever recorded at Santa Barbara was 28.5°, during 

 the cold wave of January, 1888; while an acknowledged minimum tem- 

 perature in ten years at Mentone has been recorded as 32°. But Mr. Ben- 

 nett in his book says: " In more severe winters I have repeatedly known the 

 thermometer to descend below 32° several nights consecutively, near the 

 seashore, ahd at the outlet of the torrent beds, especially in the western 

 bay. Slight films of ice then form on shallow pools on the road and near 

 the torrents." 



This has occurred at Santa Barbara upon but one night, and not as at Men- 

 tone several nights consecutively. The above table is one of the strongest 

 advocates for Santa Barbara as being the very best winter climate in the 

 northern hemisphere from year to year and month to month. Dr. Bennett 

 says of Mentone, speaking of the ten years' mean obtained by him from 

 1859 to 1869 for six months each year, and those obtained by M. de Brea's 

 ten years' record from 1850 to 1860, that such results show how very uni- 

 form the climate of Mentone is, especially when a sufficiently large number 

 of years are thus compared. Now, if Dr. Bennett thinks the climate of 

 Mentone so very uniform, what would he think of the comparison as above 

 with Santa Barbara; the latter's mean yearly temperature as deduced from 

 ten years of observation by different parties, with observations at different 

 hours, is 60.2°, while in the above table the mean for each month and the 

 year are the average of the three years — that of 1885, 1886, and 1887, and 

 are the same as that made by other parties. It ought to do a Californian 

 good to look at each month of the above table, and see how much warmer the 

 Santa Barbara climate is in the winter, spring, and fall, and how much 

 cooler it is in the summer than the far famed and much advertised Men- 

 tone and San Remo. Santa Barbara had two hundred and fourteen clear 

 days out of two hundred and eighty-nine that were observed during 1887 

 by Mr. Hugh D. Vail, from whose records the above facts are obtained. 

 Mentone and San Remo have but an average of two hundred and fourteen 

 clear days out of three hundred and sixty-five. This comparison speaks 

 much, yes, very much indeed, for Santa Barbara — not only as a winter 

 resort, but a summer resort as well. Mentone and San Remo have about 

 as hot a summer temperature as does Riverside and the Sacramento and 

 San Joaquin Valleys, and being much more moist than the California points 



