Santa Barbara County CA Archives History - Books .....Climate 1891
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Book Title: A Memorial And Biographical History Of The Counties Of Santa Barbara, Ventura, And San Luis Obispo

CLIMATE.

  Of Santa Barbara, as of other portions of Southern California, it must be said
that the terms "rainy season" and "dry season" are in some measure a misnomer,
as conveying too extreme an impression. Dr. J. P. Widney's suggestion of "rain
season " is more apt, as signifying the period during which rain does fall, as
distinguished from the time of the year when it does not fall. It is practically
true that from April to November no rain falls, yet even during these months
there have been known occasional showers. From November to April the rainfall
occurs, in Santa Barbara averaging seventeen inches per season. The rains are
not continuous, but distributed, coming in heavy storms, with days or often
weeks of intervening delightful weather. While there is no regularity about the
rains, no two seasons being alike, there is usually a heavy rain about the first
of December, followed by another heavy storm about the beginning of January,
then others scattered through January, February and March, with the final or
"clearing up" storm about the first of April. February and March are the real
spring months of Santa Barbara. Then the results of the rains are fully
apparent, the flowers of the plains and canons are in season, the foothills are
brilliantly grass-clad, the streams are full, and nature appears in her
brightest, gayest aspect.

  The rainfall for 1867-'68 was 25.19 inches; for 1868-'69, 15.77 inches; for
1869-70, 10.27 inches; for 1870-'71, 8.91; for 1871-'72, 14.94; for 1872-'73,
10.45; for 1873-'74, 14.44; for 1874-'75, 18.71 inches.

  In 1872 there were only thirteen days when the mercury rose above 83°. The
highest temperature was 86°, and the lowest 40°. In 1875 the mercury rose above
83° only seven times; the highest was 88°, and the lowest 38°, this last being
the register for seven o'clock A. M. on January 24.

  Observations made from June to December show the mean temperature of the sea
water to be 64°, the thermometer being sunk four feet below the surface of the
water, where it is twenty feet deep, at the point one-third of a mile from land,
and at 11 A. M. Observations made at the same time show the mean temperature of
air in the shade to have been 71°.

  In 1885 there were thirty-one days in which the mercury rose above 80°. These
were distributed through seven months, of which two were December and February.
There were only thirteen days when it did not fall at night below 60°, and these
were scattered through three months, including December. There was but one night
in the year when the mercury fell below 40°. In 1885 there were thirty-one days
in which rain fell, but only nine of them could be called rainy days, since, in
the remaining twenty-two it rained only in the night, or in brief showers during
the day.

  In 1886 there were twenty-three days, distributed through seven months, in
which the mercury rose above 80°, and thirteen nights when it did not fall below
60°. The greatest height of the mercury during this year was 85°, and the lowest
point reached was 35°. The mean temperature for January was 55°; for July,
66.3°; for October, 58.3°. The mean temperature for the three winter months was
56.81°; for the three summer months, 65.51°; for the three autumn months,
59.46°. Thus it will be seen that the difference between the mean of January and
that of July was 11.30°, and between the mean winter and mean summer temperature
8.7°.

  In 1886 the mean temperature of the warmest day in the year was 73.5°, this
falling in January; of the warmest day in August, 72°; the mean of the coldest
day, being in February, was 45°; the highest temperature reached was 85°, in
January, February, and August; the lowest was 35°, in January. The annual
average temperature was 59.6°. The total rainfall was 13.86 inches.

  In 1887 the mean temperature of the whole year was 59.7°; while that of the
three summer months was 64.4°, a difference of less than 5°. The means of the
three warmest days were 79°, 71°, and 74°, in June, July and October,
respectively. There were during this year twenty-six days in which the mercury
registered more than 80°, and of these only six were in the summer. On the
warmest night of the year the temperature fell to 65°, and there were but
fourteen nights in the whole year when it did not fall to or below 60°, and of
these, four were in the summer. The mean temperature of the coldest day was
47.5°, in November. The three hottest days being in May, June, and October,
reached respectively, 86°, 95°, and 91.8°. The three lowest fell in January,
February, and December, reaching 37°, 37°, and 38°.

  There was a total rainfall of 17.09 inches, being .72 above the average for
the last twenty years. Rain fell on twenty-four days. Of 289 days observed this
year, 214 were recorded as clear, forty as fair, and thirty-live as cloudy.

  Such statistics as these refer more particularly to that portion of the
country south of the mountains; that is to say, Santa Barbara Valley. In the
northern valleys there is more wind, and the mercury falls lower and rises
higher. During seven months, beginning with March of the year 1888, the lowest
mean in the Santa Maria Valley was 57°, in April; the highest, 63.5°, in July-a
difference of only 6.5°. In the Santa Ynes Valley the mercury has fallen to 18°
and has risen to 100°. Even these valleys, however, are generally equable, and
the more marked changes they do undergo prove an attraction to many persons
liking variety.

  There is a table of comparisons often submitted, as illustrative, to those
knowing the Eastern resorts, of Santa Barbara climate. This says:-January at
Santa Barbara is equivalent to May at Nantucket; February to May at Atlantic
City; March to May at Norfolk; April to May at Portland; May to May at New
Haven; June to May at New York; July to May at Philadelphia; August to May at
Washington; September to May at Brooklyn; October to May at New London; November
and December to May at Portland.

  These climatic conditions naturally and inevitably make Santa Barbara one of
the most healthful sections in the world. The experience of the years has fully
attested this, and the fame of this climate has gone throughout the world. Even
from the earliest period of Spanish settlement here, these phases have been noted.

  During the mission period, the deaths in proportion to baptisms were less at
Santa Barbara and Purisima than at any other of the missions, thus attesting the
healthfulness-of this region.

  In the spring of 1798 the ship Concepcion brought hither several cases of
small-pox, and the passengers were prematurely released from quarantine, against
the orders of the Governor, who, it may be said en passant, was raging in
consequence. He threatened to hang the commandant should the disease spread;
but, happily for that functionary as for the community at large, the
excellently-healthful climate protected the people from this scourge, and
infection did not spread.

  The census returns for 1870 show that in Santa Barbara County, which then
included what is now Ventura, the total of deaths from consumption that year was
five out of 7,984 population, or one in every 1,567. The deaths from all causes
were but sixty-three, of which but one-twelfth were from consumption. The deaths
from this disease in Massachusetts are one in every 283, in New York, one in
every 379; in Florida, one in 1,433. The ratio of deaths in Massachusetts is
17.7 in each 1,000; in New York it is 15.8 in the 1,000; in Florida 12.1 in
1,000; in Santa Barbara 8 in 1,000.

  The following extracts relative to the healthfulness of Santa Barbara are
taken from a paper written  by the late Dr. S. B. Brinkerhoff, who practiced
medicine here from 1852 to 1880:

  Santa Barbara is protected from northern blasts, by the Coast Range of
mountains, which average from 3,000 to 4,000 feet in height. The heat of summer
is tempered by gentle breezes from the sea, the average summer temperature being
less than 70°. The average winter temperature is 55°. The changes in the seasons
are scarcely perceptible in temperature. Frosts are of rare occurrence, and
disagreeable fogs seldom prevail. There are but comparatively few days in the
entire year when one cannot be out of doors during the day without discomfort.
The nights are always cool and sleep-inviting.     *     *     *   The softness
and general uniformity of the climate, its freedom from dampness and sudden
changes, the opportunities for diversion and recreation, render Santa Barbara
pre-eminently a desirable place of resort for persons suffering from bronchial
and pulmonary affections. Although many  persons suffering from these complaints
have come here too late to receive any permanent relief from the restorative
effects of climate, yet the greater portion of cases which have come under my
observation have been permanently relieved, and many, in a surprisingly short
space of time, have been restored to health. The climate of Santa Barbara
possesses elements of general healthfulness in an eminent degree, and perhaps,
also, some latent peculiarities in its favor too subtle for ordinary
observation. I may instance the following facts in this connection: During the
eighteen years of my active practice here I have never known a single case of
scarlet fever or diphtheria. I have known of only three cases of dysentery,
neither of which proved fatal, and of only three cases of membranous croup. The
epidemics and diseases incident to childhood, which in other parts of the
country sweep away thousands of children annually, are here comparatively
unknown. Cases of fever and ague I have never known to originate here, and
persons coming here afflicted with it rarely have more than two or three
attacks, even without the use of anti-periodics. I have known instances of
small-pox at three different times; in each of the first two instances occurring
several years apart, the disease was confined to a single case, and was
contracted elsewhere. Neither of these cases proved fatal. In the year 1864,
when this disease prevailed so extensively and proved so fatal throughout the
State, there were two cases of the disease, contracted elsewhere and developed
here, which proved fatal. Three other persons residing here contracted the
disease at this time, all of whom recovered. Although no unusual precaution was
taken to prevent the spread of the disease, it was confined to the cases
mentioned. Yet hundreds of the native population, either from ignorance or
prejudice, had never been and would not suffer themselves to be vaccinated. In
the years 1869-'70, when this disease in its most virulent form prevailed so
generally throughout the State, not a single case occurred at Santa Barbara,
although in daily communication with other parts of the State by stage and steamer.

  Some ten miles from Santa Barbara, in a westerly direction, about one and a
half miles from the shore, is an immense spring of petroleum, the product of
which continually rises to the surface of the water, and floats upon it over an
area of many miles. * * Having read statements that, during the past few years,
the authorities of Damascus and other plague-ridden cities of the East have
resorted to the practice of introducing crude petroleum into the gutters of the
streets to disinfect the air, and as a preventive of disease, which practice has
been attended with the most favorable results, I throw out the suggestion, but
without advancing any theory of my own, whether the prevailing westerly sea
breezes, passing over this wide expanse of petroleum-laden sea, may not take up
from it and bear along with them to the places whither they go, some subtle
power which acts as a disinfecting agent, and which may account for the
infrequency of some of the diseases referred to, and possibly for the superior
healthfulness of the climate of Santa Barbara.

  Dr. M. H. Biggs, for many years resident in Santa Barbara, in his report to
the State Medical Society on the "Vital Statistics and Medical Topography of
Santa Barbara," corroborated the testimony of Dr. Brinkerhoff, saying: "There
are no malarious fevers. Persons who come here afflicted with fever and ague
rarely have more than two or three attacks. They soon become well, often without
the use of anti-periodics, The climate seems sufficient to cure the malady.
During a residence of over eighteen years I have seen only one case of
membranous croup, and heard of two others. There is no disease endemic in Santa
Barbara- nothing but what can usually be referred either directly or indirectly
to some indiscretion in eating or drinking or unreasonable exposure."

  Dr. Thomas M. Logan, ex-president of the American Medical Association, and
secretary of the State Board of Health, made a statement in favor of Santa
Barbara as a suitable place for a State sanitarium. In his first official
report, published in 1871, is expressed this opinion:

  "The secretary informed the board that he had been occupied of late in
visiting several localities in the southern part of the State, noted for
salubrity, as San Rafael, Santa Cruz, Montery, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara
and other places. * * * While most of the localities named are possessed of
climatic elements adapted to different stages and characters of pulmonary
diseases, that of Santa Barbara appeared to present that happy combination of
the tonic and the sedative climate which would seem to render it suitable to a
greater variety of phthisical affections, and at the same time better adapted to
the different stages of cachexia than any other place visited."

  Elsewhere Dr. Logan wrote as follows:- "In vain, heretofore, since my
appointment to the responsible position of Health Officer of the State, have I
sought for such a combination of sanitary qualities as are now presented. * * *
 As to the climate of Santa Barbara it will be seen that, although lying in
about the same latitude as Charleston, South Carolina, yet it is totally
different, and that the isothermal line would be deflected toward St. Augustine,
Florida."

  In short, the testimony alike of physicians, tourists and invalids attests the
delightful and healthful qualities of the climate here. Even the present winter,
afflicted with a cough of several years' standing, pronounced by physicians sure
to result fatally, has found it almost quite disappear in a residence of two
months here, with practically no medicaments, and even without the exercise of
precautions against cold, etc.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
OF THE COUNTIES OF
Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California

Illustrated

Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the
Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of
its Prospective Future; with Profuse illustrations of its Beautiful Scenery,
Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most Eminent Men, and
Biographical Mention of  many of its Pioneers and also of Prominent Citizens of
to-day,

BY MRS. YDA ADDIS STORKE.

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors -will
never achieve anything worthy to he remembered with pride by remote
descendants."—Macaulay.

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1891.

Barlow-Sinclair Printing Co., Chicago.


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