Thursday, August 1, 2013

California is different

I've been working on a list of things that are different here in southern California from my old homestead in Maryland.

One of the most outstanding differences is the weather.
Besides the fact that there's no snow here (yea!), oftentimes the hot and cold spots seem to be reversed.

For example.
In Maryland, we go to the mountains (Appalachians -- only 3,000 to 4, 000 feet high) to get cool. When we go to the beach (down to the Ocean), we know it's going to be hot, hot, hot. That we'll have to walk across a good bit of very hot sand in order to reach the warm-ish ocean to swim.  Warm-ish because the Gulf Stream in the ocean sweeps up from the tropics to warm our coast.

In southern California -- it's the opposite.
By the beach, where I live, it's cool.  We've been in the 60s all May, June, and July while the east coast warmed up to the 90s and higher.  Yes, the sun is stronger and we have to wear hats to protect our skin from its rays, but that means it's only warm while the sun shines.  But we have clouds (the marine layer) every morning and evening, so that warmish feeling doesn't stick around very long.

Where can we go to get warm?  To the mountains, of course.
Take yesterday, for example.  Temps here by the beach were in the 60s. Further inland, 70s to 80s.  In the mountains (6,000 - 7,000 feet high) it was in the 90s! And to the east of the mountain is desert where it was 106 degrees.

So, Californians come to the beach for cool weather.  Go Figure.

4 comments:

jean gralley said...

Very interesting, Wendie! Thanks -- I'm glad I asked.

Wendy P. said...

I can't remember when you moved here, but wait until September/October. It gets HOT and very, very dry. People will flock to the beaches to find any bit of cool and moist they can, and you'll see people sitting with their beach chairs in ankle-deep water. And we'll all be nervous about wildfires. Our autumn red and gold comes from brush fires fanned by hot, dry winds from the desert. Yet I can't imagine not living here. :)

WendieO said...

I've been amazed at how many people have crowded the beaches of Del Mar in this 60 degree, cloudy weather.
I arrived here close to the first of September. Yes, I do remember September being warm. Okay, it was hot. (this house we're living in doesn't have air-conditioning and the afternoons got quite warm upstairs, but everything cooled off overnight, which doesn't happen in the east, in July. Must be the dry air that keeps the nights cool.

Mary Bowman-Kruhm said...

Talked to my daughter Hope who recently moved to LA and she said she hasn't been out of a sweatshirt since she left Michigan, where it is now pleasantly hot!