CLIMATE. 27 
§ 24. Temperature of the Southern Coast.—The high moun- 
tain-spur which projects into the ocean at Point Conception 
seems to protect the coast south of it from the fogs, which are 
much rarer and warmer at Los Angeles than at San Francisco. 
But though the former is in latitude 34°, it is at times as cold in 
winter as the latter (in 37° 48’), because it is farther from the 
ocean, and is in sight of Mount San Bernardino and other high 
mountains, some of which wear snow-caps during a large part 
of the year. In summer, however, it is much warmer, even 
oppressively hot. The nights are sometimes so warm, that a 
sheet is as much covering as is necessary for comfort; but 
blankets are usually required. 
The coast north of latitude 40° is much colder and cloudier 
in summer, and has more rain than any other part of the state. 
§ 25. Sacramento Basin.—The climate of the Sacramento 
Basin differs from that of San Francisco in having no fogs, faint 
sea-breezes, winters four degrees colder, and summers from six- 
teen to twenty degrees warmer. The greater heat of summer is 
owing to the want of ocean winds and fogs; the greater cold of 
winter is caused by the distance from the Pacific, and the prox- 
imity of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada. While at San Fran- 
cisco the thermometer usually stands at 70° at mid-day, it is 
at 86° in Sacramento city at the same moment; and these six- 
teen degrees make a vast difference, for they change comfort 
into oppression. And Sacramento city, lymg near the great 
gap in the Coast Mountains, is cooler in summer than either 
end of the basin; for the upper portions of both the Sacra- 
mento and San Joaquin valleys, nearly every summer, see days 
when the thermometer stands at over 100° in the shade. The 
county a8sessor of Fresno county stated, in his annual report 
for 1857, that the mean temperature at Millerton during the 
three summer months was 106°. The Stockton Argus spoke 
thus of a great heat that was felt in Stanislaus county on the 
23d of June, 1859: 
“The thermometer was 113° in the shade. The wind was 
avoided, as it was heated so, that it felt as if actually burning 
id 
