The Climate
CHAPTER X.
Temperature, Rainfall and Cloud Currents.
On the subject of climate, the Californian, no matter on what portion of his State he may treat, has been accused of unconscious exaggeration, though never found guilty of the charge by those who have investigated the matter for themselves. Many are the quips and jokes which in humorous sarcasm have been hurled at him. He is twitted with selling lands very cheap but charging exorbitant prices for "the climate that goes with the land," an insensible tribute, after all, to the comfort, healthfulness and resultant longevity, which are the natural gifts of his wonderful State. Climate here is not only a luxury, enjoyable in its fullest fruition by every resident, it is more, it is life, and a life that is worth living. With few or no causes for disease, none of the malaria, or intermittent fevers which break down the most robust manhood and womanhood before middle life is reached at the East, with epidemics and virulent infections exceedingly rare, with a first place in the tables of longevity in the health reports of the United States, it is not to be wondered at that Californians, as much in gratefulness as in exultation, express themselves so warmly of their genial climate.
In Colusa County it may be termed a benediction. It is an equable mean between the colder north and the heat and humidity of the lower south. The summers are long and genial, and its bright, breezy warm days are followed by cool and restful nights, bringing refreshful slumber. No matter how warm a few of the mid-summer days may be in its end of the Sacramento Valley, one hears of no sunstroke, work has never to be suspended, and there is nothing approaching the sweltering, suffocating, and often fatal heat common to the regions from the Mississippi River east to the Atlantic seaboard. Owing to the comparative dryness of the air, the higher degrees of temperature are borne without inconvenience and without complaint. A climate that will admit of an open-air life the whole year round, cannot help but be a joyful theme for those who enjoy its invigorating and salutary ministrations.
The solar heat, the ocean currents, the trade winds, the Japanese current, and the configuration of the mountains operating with each other under a great variety of circumstances are the responsible causes for this climatic condition. In accounting for this geniality of atmosphere, a writer fully conversant with his subject, asserts that the immense valley in which Colusa County is situated, is effectually cut off from the air of the sea during the latter part of the night and fore part of the day, while the atmospheric poise is undisturbed by local rarification. "But as day advances," he continues, "the sun warms and rarifies the reposing atmosphere of the valley, the equilibrium is at length temporarily destroyed, and soon after mid-day the heavy, cool sea-wind, put in motion and hurried on to restore nature's disturbed balance, comes sweeping up the valley with no obstacles to impede or deviate its course; it pursues the broad line of the great river, passing over the valley in a northwest course, fresh and cool, gratefully tempered and moderated, and it commingles in its first meeting with the soft, warm air of the interior, and spreads out over the wide expanse of the valley. In this way, by a law of nature, the whole basin is filled daily during the summer with the invigorating atmosphere of the ocean, aided somewhat in the night by the descending cool air from the crests of the mountains."
While on this topic, we cannot forbear quoting the eloquent diction and felicitous word painting of Lieutenant Maury, United States Navy, in treating of the climate of this coast. After speaking of the "Gulf Stream," that "great river in the ocean," which sweeps through the Carribean Sea and northwesterly across the Atlantic to Europe, giving to Liverpool a climate much warmer in winter than New York, a thousand miles further south, and giving the vine and the ivy to France, lying in the same latitude as the ice-bound Gulf of St. Lawrence, the same authority gracefully says:—
"There is a river in the Pacific larger and more potent than the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic. Rising at the equator to the southwest of Mexico, it moves westward through the vaster stretch of waters of the Pacific, storing up through its course of ten thousand miles the heat of beaming torrid sun; reaching the eastern coast of Asia, it sweeps to the northward, and under the name of Japan Current it swings on the great circle across the Northern Pacific, strikes fairly against the coast of Northern California, and, turning to the southward, along the entire coast of California, re-enters the equatorial current, to begin anew its ceaseless round. This great river of the Pacific Ocean softens the climate of the western coast of the United States, just as the Gulf Stream does the climate of the western coast of Europe. From its heated waters come to California the warm, balmy breath of the tropics, and, driving winter into eternal banishment, gives the valleys and foot-hills over to the fig, the vine, the olive, the orange and the pomegranate. While east of the mountains, five to seven months of winter cover the land; while blazing fires of wood or coal are required to overcome a zero temperature; while the earth is frozen, the rivers and creeks are locked in ice, and buildings are fringed with huge icicles; while every outdoor industry is at a standstill—here no winter closes down on the earth; here are no never-dying winter fires, and no dwellings or roomy stock shelters expensively constructed to exclude blighting frosts and chilling atmosphere; here the ice is to all our streams a stranger; here the whole earth is clothed with a mantle of green, relieved by the brilliant coloring of a varied and luxuriant Flora; here the woods, groves and valleys are vocal with the notes of birds that have come to escape the winter of the other lands, and bees flit industriously in search of honey sweets; here flocks and herds graze on the new verdure, and, with plow and harrow moving from sunrise to sunset, every field presents a scene of industrial animation."
The only real inconveniences from climate which are worthy of notice, are those resulting from air currents which set in from the north, that dry north wind of the summer. These winds are far from being of daily occurrence. In fact, it would be difficult to number thirty days during the long summers in which they prevail. They cause very little inconvenience, interrupt no outdoor industry and would be held scarcely noteworthy in other and less-favored regions than Colusa County. Even they are blessings in disguise and potent agencies for good. Their desiccating qualities are such that, passing over the surface of the plains, they take up and disperse the malaria and possible exhalations of epidemics which might otherwise arise if the atmosphere was not stirred by the sometimes rude breath of the summer north wind. The greatest summer heat occurs from July to September, an average temperature of 79 degrees, yet, during this period, the chronicler of local events has never to record any cases of sunstroke, the horrors of a cyclone, or the tempestuous visitations of crop-destroying, death-dealing blizzards. Hail-storms and thunder-storms are so infrequent as to be phenomenal. During some of the summer seasons, rain has not fallen during the months of June, July, August and September, and these have been seasons of the most prodigal agricultural abundance.
The winter season in this part of the Sacramento Valley might almost be termed a misnomer. It is suggestive of nothing Arctic. Its designation implies neither snow blockades, ice-chained streams, fierce, shrill and biting blasts, nor enforced idleness for the out-of-door toiler. Here, in speaking of winter, there is no anticipating shudder, and no unconscious chill at its approach; nor is there anything noticeable among the members of a household, or on the fields without, in the stables, or among the stock to indicate in the late fall that preparations are being made to meet this bluff, intrusive and expensive guest. Here he does not devour with compulsory rapacity, during long, dreary months of enforced and impatient indolence, what has required a whole season of unremitting toil to store up. A genuine Eastern winter, the real wolf of the agriculturist at the East, is never at his door. It is, in fact, the most delightful season in this valley, being almost the counterpart of spring in the older States. If in summer and autumn the atmosphere is hot and dry, the smaller streams run down green fields sere and yellow, it is because this is a period of nature's repose. The aridity of the dry season is a blessing in disguise. What appears a barren waste is a pasture-field. The dried grass is well preserved, after going to seed, and both stalk and seed afford nutritious food to sheep and cattle.
The winter, which may be approipriately termed the rainy season, begins usually about the middle of September, and continues till May, the rest of the year, with few exceptions, being rainless. In speaking of the "rainy season" it must not be inferred that rain is perpetual or nearly so during this period. The term is only applied in contrast to the dry season, and implies the possibility rather than the occurrence of rain. In more than half the winters there does not fall more than will satisfy the necessities of agriculture, and even in the seasons of most rain, much very pleasant weather is interspersed. The rains are tropical, in one respect, being showery, and not often continuous for many hours. It is entirely unlike the monotony of the storm which the Atlantic climate furnishes. The sun breaks forth frequently in the midst of a shower, and directly the sky is almost clear. Presently, when it is least expected, the rain is heard on the roof with the suddenness of a shower bath. The night is more favorable to rain than the day. No matter how dense the clouds, how fair the wind, how resolute the barometer in its promise of falling weather, the sun rarely fails to break up the arrangement before noon and to tumble the clouds into confused masses or dissipate them altogether, while before night or during the night the clouds resume their functions.
The prevailing direction of the cloud-current is from south to west, and the cloud supplying the rain is mostly of the cumulo-stratus or nimbus form, and quite low in the sky. What is singular, the rain begins most frequently to the northward, although the cloud comes from the south. The horizon in the south may be entirely clear under these circumstances, the cloud forming in view, and growing denser and denser in its northward travel, until it precipitates the rain.
There are many theories in regard to the greater rainfall which this northern-central part of the State has over that in the southern part of the State. The unobstructed level of the valley to the south extending down to the Golden Gate, leaving a grand open pathway for the movement of the moisture-laden southern breezes, bearing with them all that is necessary for the growth of grains and fruits, may in a great measure account for this, while the fact remains, as is evidenced by the following table, taken from the Signal Service records at Red Bluff, only sixty miles north of Colusa, and whose temperature and rainfall are practically the same as in Colusa County, and for which, as well as for other data on this subject, we must record our obligations to Dr. W.B.H. Dodson, of the Red Bluff Sentinel:—
Red Bluff
Los Angeles
San Diego
Average seasonal rainfall, inches.................................................
27.46
17.64
11.01
Lowest temperature...................................................................
19
28
32
Highest temperature..................................................................
110
112
101
Average annuel temperature.......................................................
62.4
60.6
60.5
Average autumn temperature......................................................
63.2
62.7
62.6
Average summer temperature.....................................................
79.7
67.8
66.8
Average spring temperature........................................................
59.8
58.4
58.1
Average winter temperature........................................................
46.8
53.6
54.6
Elevation — feet........................................................................
342
334
40
As will be observed, the winter mean temperature is but a few degrees lower than at Los Angeles or San Diego, the average spring temperature slightly higher and the summer temperature more than ten degrees higher, a comparison most favorable to the influence of the grape and fruit-growing qualities of this climate.
The average rainfall in Colusa County is estimated at nineteen and thirty-two-hundredths inches. There are nearly three hundred clear days in the year, and in the valleys the inclemency of the weather will not deprive the outdoor laborer of three weeks of his time.
The following table, furnished by the United States Signal Service, for a period of twelve and one-half years, beginning January, 1877, shows, among other data, the mean temperature and rainfall during that time:—
Months.
Mean temperature
Mean relative humidity
Mean dew point
Av. hourly veloc. wind
Average cloudiness
Average No. clear days
Average No. fair days
*Average No. cloudy
Mean precipitation
January
43
71
31
7
5.1
12
8
12
5.06
February
51
64
34
7
3.7
14
9
6
3.12
March
55
58
37
9
3.8
14
10
7
3.13
April
63
58
44
6
3.O
16
11
4
1.71
May
67
51
46
8
3.5
16
10
4
0.95
June
74
44
49
7
2.5
20
8
2
1.4
July
82
33
49
6
1.1
27
4
0
†
August
82
33
43
5
0.8
28
3
0
†
September
78
38
46
6
1.4
24
4
1
0.36
October
65
44
41
7
1.7
23
6
2
0.75
November
54
63
39
6
3.6
16
6
8
3.41
December
47
75
38
6
4.3
12
10
8
5.OO
Mean
63
53
41
7
2.9
- -
- -
- -
24.89
*Including days on which rain fell.
It has already been remarked that the climatic phenomena observed at Red Bluff are practically the same as at Colusa, and, confirmatory of this, is now appended another table of observations, unofficial, it is true, but kept with conscientious care and skill. It was prepared by D. Bentley, a volunteer observer, at Princeton, Colusa County, and exhibits the mean results of his observations from May 1, 1873, to May 1, 1888, a period of fifteen years:—
TEMPERATURE.
WEATHER.
Mean max.
Mean Min.
Monthly Mean
Cloudy Days.
Fair Days.
Clear Days.
Rainy Days.
January
54
39
44
11
9
11
8
February
60
42
51
10
7
11
6
March
65
45
55
11
9
11
7
April
70
52
61
9
10
11
4
May
79
58
68
5
9
17
3
June
87
65
76
2
7
21
2
July
93
69
82
1
4
26
1/3
August
93
62
78
1
4
26
1/3
September
89
59
74
2
7
21
1
October
77
50
64
4
8
19
4
November
64
42
54
6
9
15
5
December
55
39
47
12
10
9
6
Mean
74
52
63
74
93
198
49
Mean winter temperature, 48°. Mean summer temperature, 79°.
Mean spring temperature, 61°. Mean autumn temperature, 63°.
If mention has not yet been made of snow in the winter season, it is because its appearance is phenomenal. To most of people a winter does not seem genuine or respectable, not like the conventional winter of the other lands, unless it comes fettered by ice or weighted down with heavy snow-drifts, carried and tossed and piled up by the caprice of whistling or dirgeful borean whirlwinds. When the Yankee, with a touch of humorous bitterness, described the climate in his State of Maine as consisting of nine months winter, with the summer coming late in the fall, he spoke of a season antipodal to the central portion of the Sacramento Valley all the year around. Snow is a rare sight here in the valleys, and melts away with the first touch of the sun, in an average winter temperature of sixty degrees. Only two or three times has snow fallen to the depth of one foot in forty years, and it only remained long enough to gratify the curiosity of those of mature age, who had never seen it save on the mountain peaks or high ridges which girt in the valley. The mountains, which are covered with it through the winter, present a high temperature in the middle of the day in certain localities, and the presence of snow on some of their summits in June is owing to the great mass which has accumulated on them rather than to cold weather. Frosts are not frequent and seldom come with blighting effect. The almost utter absence of thunder and lighting may be deemed a remarkable phenomenon in this region. Three or four times during the rainy season an occasional flash of lighting or peal of thunder may accompany the rains, but persons within doors may pass the whole year, or even several years, without noticing either. A regular thunder gust, such as marks the Atlantic climate and breaks the monotony of solar rule, is almost unheard of. Observing the almost complete absence of lightning, it is a common remark that this atmosphere is deficient in electricity, which means simply that the electric equilibrium is not easily disturbed. Those little exhibitions of what might be termed domestic electricity, which are common in the States to the east of us, such as the crackling of clothing and furs, are seldom witnessed here. They are rare even in winter, though the air be thoroughly dried by a north wind. It is well known that sudden changes of temperature and rapid formation of cloud are favorable to electric disturbances, yet none occur here. Even the aurora borealis has never been observed.
RELATION OF CLIMATE TO AGRICULTURE.
A stranger observing the long dry season of this part of the Sacramento Valley, would naturally, though rather hastily, conclude that this county is no place for agriculture. The pliancy and ingenuity of its people, however, soon adapted them to the novel circumstances which surrounded them at an early day, and the results were something wonderful. That the hills everywhere produced spontaneously from year to year a luxuriant crop of oats, and that the valleys, burnt up as they were in summer and autumn, were sure to be transformed into flower-gardens in the spring, convinced them that farming could be made more profitable as well as mining. While the masses were delving in the mountains in pursuit of gold, a few turned their attention to the growing of potatoes and other vegetables, whereby many of them realized fortunes in a few years.
In the driest season there is rain enough to produce abundant crops if it be properly distributed. No one who has not reflected on this subject would think it possible that six inches of rain during the season would suffice. One-half this quantity is enough to wet the ground for plowing, and the other half to perfect the crop.
In Colusa County the art of farming, as governed by the climate, consists in having the soil in good condition and planting the seed while there is moisture enough to start it. After this, rain is not so essential. The old Californians, in their rude system, avoided planting till the rains were over. This was to escape the necessity of cultivating the crop. They have been known to plow up their potatoes, when rain came after planting, and to replant, because this was cheaper than to keep down the weeds which the rain would start into growth. This is not precisely the present American method, and yet it is truly surprising how crops of all kinds will mature without rain or irrigation, while at the same time there is no compensation here for the absence of rain by dews. The atmosphere is too dry to form much dew. In the Atlantic States the storms of approaching winter put a stop to the labor of the farm, and force both man and beast into winter quarters. Here it is just the reverse. The husbandman watches the skies with impatient hope, and as soon as the rain of November or December has softened the soil, every plow is put in requisition. Nothing short of excess or deficiency of rain interferes with winter farming. The planting season continues late, extending from November to April, giving an average of nearly six months for plowing and sowing, during which the weather is not likely to interfere with outdoor work, more than in the six spring and summer months of the Eastern States. Owing to the absence of rain, harvesting is conducted on a plan which would confuse the ideas of an Atlantic farmer. There are no showers or thunder gusts to throw down the grain, or wet the hay, or impede the reaper. The hay dries in swaths without turning, and the grain remains standing in the field, awaiting the reaping machine or harvester, it may be, for a month after it is ripe. And so it remains when cut, awaiting the thresher. When threshed and sacked, the sacks are sometimes piled up in the field a long while before removal. In July up to October the great growing plains and valleys of Colusa County may often be seen dotted over with cords of grain in sacks, as secure from damage by weather as if closely housed.
The early and prolific bearing of fruit-trees is a peculiar effect of the climate. One might naturally suppose that the dryness and heat of the summer would hasten the ripening of fruits and cause the flowering and fruiting season to be short. But the fact is precisely opposite. The blossoms, instead of coming forth all at once, continue expanding for weeks, and the fruit ripens slowly and by installments. It follows that the market season for any kind of fruit, instead of lasting for a few weeks, as in the Atlantic States, may continue into the months.
For the drying of fruit, which promises to be an extensive industry in Colusa County, the climate is admirably adapted. There can be no failure in the process. All that is required is to expose the fruit in a suitable place, after proper preparation, and leave it there. It needs no covering or care at night, as there is not sufficient dew to harm it.
Another noteworthy point in considering the peculiarities of climate and its contrasts with the East, is in observing that the dry and dreary landscape of the summer and early autumn is nature's seed store, where seeds of a hundred species are preserved for next year's use. There they repose for months as if packed in the drawers of a seed store. In the winter they will germinate by myriads. How well these seeds are preserved, is shown by the multitudes which fructify in a given space. By a curious arrangement, the seeds which are scattered on the ground are often secured most effectually. A large portion of the valley surface is composed of adobe soil, and as soon as the dry weather comes, this soil begins to crack in all directions, and when the seed ripens and falls, it is preserved in these natural receptacles from the depredations of birds, squirrels and other animals.
And now, what wonder that the foot-hills and portions of the plains are clothed every year with a wild luxuriant growth of wild oats, and that volunteer crops of barley and wheat, yielding twenty bushels to the acre, spring up in the valleys from seed scattered in harvesting? It is not unusual to have two volunteer crops in succession, while garden vegetables seed themselves in the same way.
COLUSA COUNTY
ITS
HISTORY TRACED FROM A STATE OF NATURE
THROUGH THE EARLY PERIOD OF SET-
TLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT,
TO THE PRESENT DAY
WITH A
DESCRIPTION OF ITS RESOURCES, STATISTICAL
TABLES, ETC.
ALSO
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS AND
PROMINENT RESIDENTS
by Justus H. Rogers
Orland, California
1891
Page 330-338
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 6/21/2009
Copyright © 1996-2009; This Web page is sponsored by Supporters on behalf of the California portion of The USGenWeb Project by The Administrative Team of the CAGW. Although believed to be correct as presented, if you note any corrections, changes, additions, or find that any links provided on this page are not functioning properly please contact the Archive Coordinator for prompt attention to the matter.