Earthguide Online Classroom

    How much rain falls over parts of southern California each year?


General vertical characteristics of the atmosphere.


Map from the National Weather Service Forecast Office, San Diego,CA. NOAA.


Questions for thought

  1. Many of the storms that move into southern California move across large areas. Why is the total rainfall so different from place-to-place? Is it patchiness in the storm or something about the ground itself that makes the same storm unload more rain in some places?
  2. Compare the observations of total annual rainfall with an elevation map of the same area. Elevation map