Back from camping:

I am sorry about no postings, but the family went camping at the spectacular Montana de Oro state park just south of Morro Bay. I never announce ahead of time when I will travel because it's just an invitation to bad guys to come burgle my house. I'm especially sensitive about security because, back before our recent local move, some jerks put my old address on the web to try to intimidate me by threatening my family.

Morro Bay is only 200 miles north of LA, but the summer climate north of Point Concepcion west of Santa Barbara is wildly different - it was about 65 degrees, with a dense drizzly fog within a mile of the Pacific. Apparently, when the summer sun beats down on California's Central Valley, the air near the baking ground heats up and rises. To replace this air, cool, moist air is sucked in off the Pacific, which is why Mark Twain said the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. The same phenomenon is seen earlier in the year in LA: the notorious "June Gloom" that runs from about May 15 to June 25, making most days overcast until the late afternoon, and ruining the vacations of a lot of tourists looking for fun in the LA sun. When Palms Springs heats up in May, the air rising off the desert vacuums in cool air off the Pacific through the windmill-choked pass 100 miles east of LA between Mt. San Gorgonio (11,502 ft.) and Mt. San Jacinto (10,831 ft.).

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer