Climate and Health 75 



considerably exceeds that of localities only a few 

 miles away on the open desert. Heavy falls of rain 

 and snow occur on the mountain which rises close 

 behind us, and we come in for the fringe of these 

 storms: besides which, the mountain acts as our 

 trustee in general, collecting our winter income of 

 moisture and dealing it out to us as we need it by 

 means of the Chino and Tahquitz Canon streams. 

 (The village draws also on San Bernardino Moun- 

 tain for part of its water-supply, which is brought 

 many miles across the desert from Whitewater 

 Creek.) Thus it arises that along with a sufficiency 

 of water (excellent water, too) our normal climate 

 is the dry, sunny climate of the desert. 



A remarkable range of temperature will be 

 noticed in the figures given above — a natural feature 

 of desert climates everywhere. (Even sleet has been 

 seen at Palm Springs, but such a thing occurs only 

 "once in a blue moon.") These wide variations 

 occur not only between summer and winter but 

 also between day and night temperatures, the ex- 

 planation being, of course, the low rate of humidity 

 (averaging 15 degrees) which is the usual condi- 

 tion. Through this dry air the sun's rays strike 

 with a direct heat like that of a furnace, which, 

 even when scorching, is never debilitating: and the 

 moment the sun drops, the thermometer drops 

 sharply with it. This gives us a conjunction of 

 warm days with cool or even cold nights, and ren- 

 ders life, and even physical exertion, on the desert 

 quite tolerable even in the heat of summer. Radia- 



