Geography of California

 

The central part of the state occupies a fertile valley of Central Valley, where grown about a third of the crop of the country, framed to the east by mountains of the Sierra Nevada (up to 4421 meters on Mount Whitney), from the south - the mountains of Tehachapi, from the west - Coast Ranges (Mount Pines, 2692 m ), and from the north - the spurs of the Cascade mountains (Mount Shasta, 4316 m, is the northern borders of the valley). With the surrounding mountains to the valley runs many rivers (the largest - San Joaquin and Sacramento) that provides ample for hot local climate moisture (Central Valley and is divided: the north - Sacramento Valley, in the south - San Joaquin Valley) and delta is the only source of fresh water for the entire region.

 

In the west, mountain ranges are suitable to the edge of the ocean, forming a narrow coastal plain, stretching from Cape San Lucas, Cabo or False (Mexico), far to the north, up to the Washington fjords. South-eastern part of California's Mojave Desert occupies the lifeless, and to the north of it lies the famous tectonic Death Valley - the lowest (Badwater, the flat, -86 m) and hot point in North America. It is here that the highest temperature was recorded in the western hemisphere - + 56,6 ° C, although on the basis of frequent temperature at + 65-70 ° C. And taking into account located on the south, north of San Jacinto (San Jacinto), depression of Lake Salton Sea (-75 m) and stretching the entire length of the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges with heights of over 4,000 meters, California is considered one of the most diverse the relief of US states - about 25% of its territory is desert, yet 27% - of the valley and urban settlements, 3% are water bodies (lakes mostly salt), and the rest - the mountains.

 

If this is California and one of the most geologically active regions of the USA. Throughout the state passes a major tectonic fault San Andreas, and more than a dozen smaller faults in the earth's crust, which explains the abundance of narrow, similar to the gorge-graben valleys, volcanoes (mostly sleeping) and regularly recorded by the earthquake here.

 

Climate California

 

California climate is extremely diverse, but most of the staff he bears all the signs of a tropical Mediterranean, with a short rainy winters and long, dry summers. Near the coast runs cold California Current, which significantly reduces the temperature gradient and leads to frequent fogs. As we move to the east, in the interior of the continent, the temperature rapidly increases and humidity decreases, which gives the local weather conditions all the features of extreme continental arid (dry) climate.

 

However, the northern and southern part of the state and are different from each other - in the south the climate is dry and hot, the average summer temperature rarely drops below + 34 ° C, and the difference between day and night temperatures can reach up to 40 ° C. At the same time, in the north the climate is closer to the moderate type - there are frequent heavy snowfalls in winter, warm and fairly humid summer, due to the regular break moist and cool air masses from the west, with the Pacific Ocean. In mountainous areas clearly expressed high-altitude zone, and because of the length of most ranges from north to south and there is a marked difference between the weather conditions, the western and eastern slopes.