CLIMATE. 19 



CHAPTER II. 

 CLIMATE. 



§ 20. General JRemarTcs. — The climate of California is un- 

 like that of every other country, and particularly dissimilar to 

 that of the American states east of the Rocky Mountains. In 

 general character it resembles the climate of western Europe. 

 Its chief peculiarities, as distinguished from the Eastern states, 

 are, that the \yinters are warmer ; the summers — especially at 

 night — cooler ; the changes from heat to cold not so great nor 

 so frequent ; the quantity of rain less, and confined principally 

 to the winter and spring months ; the atmosphere drier ; the 

 cloudy days fewer ; thunder, lightning, hail, snow and ice, and 

 the aurora borealis, rarer; the winds more regular — blowing 

 from the north for fair weather, and from the south for storms ; 

 and earthquakes more frequent. 



The state reaches through nine and a quarter degrees of lati- 

 tude, from 32° 45' to 42°, San Diego being as far south as 

 Charleston, and Crescent Citv as far north as Providence. 

 Much of the Golden state has the ^vinter of South Carolina, 

 and the summer of Rhode Island. The orange, the lemon, the 

 ohve, the fig, the pomegranate, the vine, the peach, the apple, 

 wheat, and barley, all find most congenial chmes in Califor- 

 nia. 



The state, indeed, has many climates : one for the western 

 slope of the Coast range betAveen Point Conception and Cape 

 Mendocino ; another for the low land of the Sacramento Basin ; 



