Читать книгу Hiking & Backpacking Big Sur. Your complete guide to the trails of Big Sur, Ventana Wilderness, and Silver Peak Wilderness онлайн

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Climate

CLIMATOLOGISTS HAVE LONG COMPARED California’s climate to that of the Mediterranean coastline, with dry summers, wet winters, and moderate year-round temperatures. Big Sur’s climate differs markedly, however, due primarily to consistent summer fog and the sheer topography of the Santa Lucia Range. Temperatures and humidity run the extremes along the fog-shrouded coast, atop 5000-foot mountain peaks, amid deep river canyons, and across the sun-drenched south-facing slopes.

An air circulation pattern known as the North Pacific High dominates regional weather patterns. From May through September, the sun most directly strikes the Northern Hemisphere. Surface air warms and rises into the upper atmosphere toward the North Pole. This heated air mass cools quickly in the upper atmosphere, subsequently sinking toward the surface as a large high-pressure cell. This massive high-pressure cell drives Big Sur’s westerly winds and summer drought, as well as its summer fog, a very stable phenomenon off the California coast that is absent in the Mediterranean basin.