CLIMATE. 



103 



forth. The rainy season is so called, not because the rain falls 

 then continuously, but because it does not fall at any other 

 time. There are occasional showers in June, July, August, 

 and September, but they are rare and light. 



The following table gives the average amount of rain, in 

 inches, which falls during the four seasons of spring, summer, 

 autumn, and winter, at various places in California, as com- 

 pared with the amount in certain other places. 



From this table it appears that the amount of rain is about 

 one-half as great in San Francisco as in those States east 

 of the Mississippi. Here all the rain falls in the winter and 

 spring ; there the amounts are nearly the same in the four sea- 

 sons. They have as much rain in their summer and autumn 

 as we in our winter and spring. We have less rain than Liv- 

 erpool and Rome, and about the same amount as Paris. 



77. Railroad Rain Table. The following table gives 

 the rainfall at various points on the line of the Pacific Rail- 

 road, crossing the State near its middle from west to east, with 

 the elevations in feet and the distances by rail in miles from 

 San Francisco. 



