California

California’s crude oil and natural gas deposits are located in six geological basins in the Central Valley and along the coast. California has more than a dozen of the United States’ largest oil fields, including the Midway-Sunset Oil Field, the second largest oil field in the contiguous United States. California’s hydroelectric power potential ranks second in the United States (behind Washington State), and substantial geothermal and wind power resources are found along the coastal mountain ranges and the eastern border with Nevada. High solar power potential is found in southeastern California’s deserts.

California is the most populous state in the nation, but its total energy demand is second to the state of Texas. Although California is a leader in some energy-intensive industries, the state has one of the lowest per capita energy consumption rates in the country. This is in spite of the fact that more motor vehicles are registered in California than any other state, and worker commute times are among the longest in the country.

As of 2007, the gross state product (GSP) is about $1.812 trillion, the largest in the United States. California is responsible for 13 percent of the United States gross domestic product (GDP). As of 2006, California’s GDP is larger than all but eight countries in the world (and all but eleven countries by Purchasing Power Parity). California is facing a $16 billion budget deficit for the 2008-09 budget year.

California is also the home of several significant economic regions, such as Hollywood (entertainment), Southern California (aerospace), the California Central Valley (agriculture), the Silicon Valley and Tech Coast (computers and high tech), and wine producing regions, such as the Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley and Southern California’s Santa Barbara and Paso Robles areas.

In terms of jobs, the five largest sectors in California are trade, transportation, and utilities; government; professional and business services; education and health services; and leisure and hospitality. In terms of output, the five largest sectors are financial services, followed by trade, transportation, and utilities.

The state has the most Roman Catholics of any state and a large Protestant population, a large American Jewish community, and an American Muslim population.

With a Jewish population estimated at more than 550,000, Los Angeles has the second-largest Jewish community in North America.

California also has the largest Muslim community population in the United States, an estimated 3.4 percent of the population, mostly residing in Southern California. According to figures, approximately 100,000 Muslims reside in San Diego.

As the twentieth century came to a close, forty percent of all Buddhists in America resided in Southern California. The Los Angeles Metropolitan Area has become unique in the Buddhist world as the only place where representative organizations of every major school of Buddhism can be found in a single urban center. The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Northern California and Hsi Lai Temple in Southern California are two of the largest Buddhist temples in the Western Hemisphere. It also has a growing Hindu population.

California has more members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Temples than any state except Utah. Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have played important roles in the settlement of California throughout the state’s history. For example, a group of a few hundred Mormon converts from the Northeastern United States and Europe arrived at what would become San Francisco in the 1840s aboard the ship Brooklyn, more than doubling the population of the small townBefore being called back to Utah by Brigham Young these settlers helped build up the city of Yerba Buena. A group of Mormons also established the city of San Bernadino in Southern California in 1851. According to the LDS Church 2007 statistics, just over 750,000 Mormons reside in the state of California, attending almost 1400 congregations statewide.

As of 2000, 60.52 percent of California residents age five and older spoke English as a first language at home, while 25.80 percent spoke Spanish. In addition to English and Spanish, 2.44 percent spoke Chinese (which included Cantonese [0.48 percent] and Mandarin [0.29 percent]), 1.99 percent spoke Filipino, 1.29 percent spoke Vietnamese, and 0.94 percent spoke Korean as their mother tongue. In total, 39.47 percent of the population spoke languages other than English. Over 200 languages are known to be spoken and read in California. Including indigenous languages, California is viewed as one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world (the indigenous languages were derived from 64 root languages in 6 language families). About half of the indigenous languages are no longer spoken, and all of California’s living indigenous languages are endangered, although there are some efforts toward language revitalization.

The official language of California has been English since the passage of Proposition 63 in 1986. However, many state, city, and local government agencies still continue to print official public documents in numerous languages.

As of 2006, California has an estimated population of 37,172,015. California is the 13th fastest-growing state. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 1,557,112 people (that is 2,781,539 births minus 1,224,427 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 751,419 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 1,415,879 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 564,100 people, and a decrease of 21,669. More than 12 percent of U.S. citizens live in California.

California has eight of the top 50 US cities in terms of population. Los Angeles is the nation’s second largest city with a population of 3,845,541 people, followed by San Diego (8th), San Jose (10th), San Francisco (14th), Long Beach (34th), Fresno (37th), Sacramento (38th) and Oakland (44th).

The center of population of California is located in Kern County, in the town of Buttonwillow.

The Demographics of California is a complex topic, which is undergoing dynamic change. As the most populous of the states, California contains large numbers of people from a wide variety of ethnic, racial, national, and religious backgrounds. The state continues to attract significant numbers of immigrants, and continues to grow dramatically in over-all size; for example, its population is twice that of New York state, which California surpassed to become the most populous state in 1962.

California lacks a majority ethnic group, and is considered one of the “majority-minority states.” Because there are many national communities and ethnic origins in the state as well, there are over 200 languages known to be spoken and read in California. Spanish is said to be the state’s “second most spoken language”, especially in the Los Angeles area and the US-Mexico border (San Diego and Imperial counties).

Demographers have speculated that California will have a Hispanic majority by the year 2020, due to large-scale immigration and birth rates of Hispanic immigrants increased at a faster rate than non-Hispanic groups.

The following are terms used to describe local or regional weather events.

* Santa Ana winds: Santa Anas are hot, high winds that blow from the eastern mountains and deserts towards coastal Southern California, usually in the spring and fall. They are the result of air pressure buildup between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. This air mass spills out, is pulled by gravity, and circulates clockwise around the high pressure area, bringing winds from the east and northeast; as the air descends in elevation, it heats up and the humidity plummets to less than 15%. It is often said that the air is heated and dried as it passes through the nearby deserts, but according to meteorologists this is a popular misconception; during Santa Ana conditions, it is typically hotter along the coast than in the deserts. As the Santa Ana winds are channeled through the mountain passes they can approach hurricane force. The combination of speed, heat, and dryness turns the chaparral into explosive fuel for the infamous wildfires the region is known for.

* Pineapple Express: A complex combination of events, bringing high levels of torrential precipitation to California. The Pineapple Express occurs when the jet stream dips across California, and warm, humid air from the mid-Pacific (from the vicinity of Hawaii–hence, the name) is drawn towards California. The resulting combination can cause extraordinarily heavy rains. A January 2005 Pineapple Express dropped nearly 25 inches (63.5 cm) of rain in Santa Barbara County.

* Tule fog: A thick ground fog that settles in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley areas of the California Central Valley. Tule fog forms during the late fall and winter after the first significant rainfall. This phenomenon is named after the tule grass wetlands of the Central Valley. Tule fog can extend from Bakersfield to Chico. Accidents caused by the tule fog are the leading cause of weather-related deaths in California; visibility is usually less than an eighth of a mile (about 600 feet or 183 - 200 m), but can be less than 10 feet (3 m).

* June Gloom: A characteristic weather pattern of late spring (May and June) in which a combination of inland heat, off-shore cool water, and prevailing wind patterns bring foggy and overcast weather to coastal regions.

* Marine layer: The cool, moist layer of air coming in from the ocean which typically includes fog. A standard weather phenomenon along the central and southern California coast from late spring to early fall.

* “Earthquake weather:” Any unseasonal, uncomfortable weather, typically hot and more humid than usual, and often associated with high and mid-level clouds, is spoken of (usually jokingly) as “earthquake weather.”

Westerly winds from the ocean also bring moisture, and the northern parts of the state generally receive higher annual rainfall amounts than the south. California’s mountain ranges influence the climate as well: moisture-laden air from the west cools as it ascends the mountains, dropping moisture; some of the rainiest parts of the state are west-facing mountain slopes. Northwestern California has a temperate climate with rainfall of 15 inches (380 mm) to 50 inches (1,300 mm) per year. Some areas of Coast Redwood forest receive over 100 inches (2,500 mm) of precipitation per year.

The Central Valley has a wide range of precipitation. The northern parts of the Central Valley receive substantially greater precipitation from winter storms which sweep down from the Pacific Northwest, while the southernmost regions of the Central Valley are near desert-like because of a lack of precipitation. Parts of the Valley are occasionally filled with thick fog (known locally as “tule fog).”

The high mountains, including the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, and the Trinity Alps, have a mountain climate with snow in winter and mild to moderate heat in summer. Ski resorts at Lake Tahoe, Mammoth Lakes, and Mt. Shasta routinely receive over 10 feet (3.0 m) of snow in a season, and some years, substantially more – leading, for example, to annual ski races on the Fourth of July.

On the east side of the mountains is a drier rain shadow. California’s desert climate regions lie east of the high Sierra Nevada and Southern California’s Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges. The low deserts east of the southern California mountains, including the Imperial and Coachella valleys and the lower Colorado River, are part of the Sonoran Desert, with hot summers and nearly frostless mild winters; the higher elevation deserts of eastern California, including the Mojave Desert, Owens Valley, and the Modoc Plateau, are part of the Great Basin region, with hot summers and cold winters. During the summer months, especially from July through early September, the region is affected by the Mexican Monsoon (also called the “southwest monsoon”), which drives moisture from the tropical Pacific, Gulf of California, and/or Gulf of Mexico into the deserts, setting off brief, but often torrential thunderstorms, particularly over mountainous terrain.

Despite its long coastline, California is not vulnerable to tropical cyclones. Because of the cold California Current from the North Pacific Ocean and the fact that the storms tend to “steer” West, California has only been hit with two tropical storms in recorded history, a storm which came ashore in 1939 and dumped heavy rainfall on the Los Angeles Area and interior deserts and Hurricane Nora (1997). The remnants of tropical systems will affect California more commonly, every several years.

The cool California Current offshore, enhanced by upwelling of cold sub-surface waters, often creates summer fog near the coast, creating a moderate oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) on the northern coast and a moderate Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) from about Cape Mendocino southward. Further inland, the climate becomes more continental, while remaining semi-arid (Köppen BSk), with colder winters and markedly hotter summers. Low-lying inland valleys, especially the Central Valley, have a hot Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa), with subtropical temperatures but a well-defined summer dry season.

The temperature gradient between immediate coast and low-lying inland valleys in the south is about 7 °F (4 °C) in winter (the coast being warmer) and in summer roughly 25 °F (14 °C) (the interior being warmer). The temperature difference is most dramatic nearer the coast. For example, the average daily high in San Francisco in July and August is 68 °F (20 °C), and in Walnut Creek, some 20 miles (32 km) inland, the average daily high in July and August is 87 °F (31 °C); a temperature gain of approximately one degree (Fahrenheit) per mile. In the south, the figures are approximately 4 °F and 23 °F (2 °C and 13 °C), respectively. At the Santa Monica coast, the average high in August is 75 °F (24 °C), while in Burbank, approximately 10 miles (16 km) inland, the average high in August is 90 °F (32 °C); a temperature gain over one degree per mile. At its most extreme, there is a 4 °F and 35 °F (2 °C and 20 °C) temperature difference between Santa Barbara and Death Valley. The extreme southwest, around San Diego, has a semi-arid warm steppe climate (Koppen BSh) as winters are drier there. In San Bernardino the winters get a low of 30 °F (?1 °C) and in the summers a high of 109 °F (43 °C) since it is about 100 miles (160 km) inland of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California.

The southeastern regions have a hot arid climate (Koppen BWh), which grades into a temperate arid climate (Koppen BWk) farther north. In the northern portion of the Mojave Desert on the east side of the state is Death Valley, which is the hottest spot on the Western Hemisphere. It is common in the summer for temperatures in the valley to reach 120 °F (49 °C). The highest temperature in the Western Hemisphere, 134 °F (57 °C), was recorded in Death Valley on July 10, 1913. Temperatures of 130 °F (54 °C) or higher have been recorded as recently as 2005. The 24-hour average July temperature in Death Valley is 101 °F (38 °C) (1961–1990 standard).

California’s climate varies widely, from arid to subarctic, depending on latitude, elevation, and proximity to the coast. Coastal and Southern parts of the state have a Mediterranean climate, with somewhat rainy winters and dry summers. The influence of the ocean generally moderates temperature extremes, creating warmer winters and substantially cooler summers, especially along the coastal areas.