Surfliner 2.2/2.3

[mikeebb]

tl;dr: Southern California, for the most part, *is* a desert under one common definition: average annual precipitation under 20". But depending on where you are and how you look, there might still be plenty of water, and there *are* those aqueducts from N. Calif., eastern Sierra, and Colorado River. There's plenty of water available to grow stuff in town, but where it's not irrigated it's quite dry even near the coast, and the monotonous chapparal (and creosote bush farther inland) is adapted to it.

Now for TMI: Here are average annual precip for some points in SoCal. Nearly all of the precipitation falls during November-March, except for occasional summer thunderstorms off the western edge of the monsoon. All sourced from usclimatedata.com, 1981-2010 "normal" period.

Anaheim (Disneyland): 13.4 in.
Avalon (Catalina Island): 11.86 in.
Bakersfield (San Joaquin Valley, maybe not "Southern California" as most people see it): 6.45 in.
Big Bear Lake (high in the mountains): 20.11 in.
Burbank (San Fernando Valley): 17.35 in.
Camarillo (just inland from Ventura, near the coast): 15.2 in.
Chino (Inland Empire): 13.34 in.
Chula Vista (just south of San Diego): 9.81 in.
Escondido (north of San Diego, inland valley): 14.98 in.
Fullerton (BNSF, Amtrak, Metrolink): 13.88 in.
Hawthorne (coastside, near LAX): 13.87 in.
Imperial Beach (coastside, on the Mexican border): 10.48 in.
Irvine (central Orange County): 14.42 in.
Laguna Beach (Orange County coast): 13.55 in.
Lake Arrowhead (mountains, near Big Bear Lake): 41.66 in.
Lake Elsinore (inland, along I-15 south of Corona): 12.45 in.
Lancaster (west end of the High Desert in LA County): 7.36 in.
Long Beach (LA Harbor area): 12.25 in.
Los Angeles (not sure if this is downtown or LAX, but suspect the latter): 18.67 in.
Montebello (San Gabriel Valley): 14.44 in.
Oceanside (San Diego north coast): 10.28 in.
Ontario (probably at KONT): 15.04 in.
Palmdale (high desert, next door to Lancaster): 7.4 in.
Palomar Mountain (observatory, peak in the San Diego County mountains): 30.19 in., avg. 26" of snow a year
Pasadena (little old lady ... at the base of the mountains): 21.27 in.
Riverside (inland, on I-215 and BNSF): 10.32 in.
San Bernadino (base of Cajon Pass): 16.37 in.
San Diego (palms, bouganvilla, Navy base, Surfliner): 10.4 in.
Santa Monica (pier, tourists, end of Expo line): 13.23 in.
Santa Barbara (beaches, oil, beautiful people, Surfliner): 19.41 in.
Tehachapi (top of the pass): 11.51 in.
Torrance (heart of old PE territory): 14.46 in.
Yorba Linda (the name sounds interesting, near Fullerton, Richard Nixon connection): 15.48 in.

And for useless comparison:

San Francisco: 23.64 in.
Sacramento: 18.51 in.
Fresno: 12.83 in.
Yosemite (probably the Valley): 36.78 in.
Palm Springs (the real desert): 4.85 in.
El Centro (where many of your winter crops are grown, with Colorado River water): 2.87 in.
Needles (Santa Fe sub...): 4.65 in.

According to ucmp.berkeley.edu, deserts have, among other things, annual average precipitation less than 50 cm (a bit under 20 inches).

Oh yes, and Surfliner 2.3 has done an excellent job on representing the terrain and colors of the central coast (as far as I've gotten so far)! Really realistic-looking; excellent depiction of the non-winter grasslands and coastal scrub.

[P834C]

For the record I never said Los Angeles I said southern California....East of Cajon Pass is desert but west of Cajon pass is not.....and the far East reaches of Los Angeles is considered to be desert. Next time stop and read before you post

Actually you should think about what you wrote. Los Angeles is part of Southern California.

In addition you meant to say north of Cajon Pass is desert but south is not. Also (and back to my original point) I don't know what you consider to be the far east reaches of Los Angeles but that would imply the Inland Empire area (San Bernardino - Riverside, etc.) and that is NOT the desert either!

[P834C]

tl;dr: Southern California, for the most part, *is* a desert under one common definition: average annual precipitation under 20". But depending on where you are and how you look, there might still be plenty of water, and there *are* those aqueducts from N. Calif., eastern Sierra, and Colorado River. There's plenty of water available to grow stuff in town, but where it's not irrigated it's quite dry even near the coast, and the monotonous chapparal (and creosote bush farther inland) is adapted to it.

Now for TMI: Here are average annual precip for some points in SoCal. Nearly all of the precipitation falls during November-March, except for occasional summer thunderstorms off the western edge of the monsoon. All sourced from usclimatedata.com, 1981-2010 "normal" period.

Everywhere I read states 10 inches or less.

The term “desert” has specific meanings. But how well does Los Angeles fit the bill? According to the venerable Köppen-Geiger Climate System, deserts typically receive less than 10 inches of precipitation a year.[6] Los Angeles gets around 15 inches.[7] However, it is not quite that simple. The real mark of a desert is the ratio of potential evaporation and transpiration (evapotranspiration) to precipitation. This ratio is dependent on temperature, and when the ratio is taken into account we find that a Southwest city such as Tucson, with its high temperatures, is classified as desert despite its average annual precipitation of around 11.6 inches. LA’s higher rainfall and milder temperatures place it in the Mediterranean climate zone.

Also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_climate

https://www.fossweb.com/delegate/ssi...ert/index.html

At any rate all of this is off topic so I'm done.

[seagoon]

.....Surfliner 2.3 has done an excellent job on representing the terrain and colors of the central coast (as far as I've gotten so far)! Really realistic-looking; excellent depiction of the non-winter grasslands and coastal scrub.

I really like what the guys have done with this route......it's become one of my favourites.