Sonoma County CA Archives History - Books .....Climate And Rainfall Of Sonoma County 1877
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Book Title: Historical And Descriptive Sketch Of Sonoma County, California

CLIMATE AND RAINFALL OF SONOMA COUNTY.

   The climate of the county of Sonoma differs in many respects from that of
other portions of the State. First, in this: the average rainfall is about
one-quarter more than at San Francisco, fifty miles south. We have never, since
the American settlement of the county, lost a crop from drouth, though other
parts of the State have suffered severely. This is particularly due to the fact
that our coast line is thirty-five miles west of a due north line from San
Francisco. As the coast trends to the northward and westward, the annual
rainfall increases. South of San Francisco the coast trends to the south and
east, and the reverse rule holds good—the rainfall is lighter until, as in Lower
California, it rarely rains at all.

   The season of rain in this section may be said to commence in October and end
in May, though it sometimes rains in June. It is rare that it rains longer than
two or three days at a time, and the intervals between rains varies from a few
days to a month or six weeks. Old Californians consider the winter the most
pleasant part of the year. As soon as the rains commence—in October— the grass
grows, and by the middle of November the hills and pastures are green. So soon
as the ground is in condition to plow, after the first rains, the farmers sow
their grain. December is usually a stormy month, with now and then a fall of
snow on the surrounding hills; but it is rare that the snow falls in the
valleys, and never lies on the ground. The thermometer seldom goes as low as
thirty-seven degrees above zero; occasionally there is a thin coat of ice over
the pools of standing water. December is usually the month of heaviest rainfall.
In January one begins to recognize an indescribable feeling of spring in the
air; the almond trees blossom, and the robins come. During this month grass and
early-sown grain grow rapidly. If the early season has not been favorable for
seeding, grain may be sown in January, February or March, and it will produce
well. In this county it is often sown as late as the middle of April, producing
a fair crop. As a rule, the bulk of the planting is done either in the fall, or
in January, February, and the first half of March.

   February is a growing month, and is one of the most pleasant in the year. It
is like the month of May in the eastern States. The peach and cherry trees bloom
this month. March is a stormy month; we are liable to have either heavy
southeast storms or a dry north wind.

   April, as in the east, is often all smiles and tears—sunshine alternating
with showers. Nature pushes her work in April, and vegetation grows
astonishingly. The turning-point of the crop comes in the long warm days of this
month; the rainy season is about over, and from that time until it matures the
crop is sustained by the sea fogs, which set in about the first of May. In June
the grain matures, and by the middle of July is ready for the harvest.

   The season in Sonoma county begins a month sooner, and ends six weeks later
than in Southern California. This is one of the greatest of its advantages over
the other parts of the State, and has given the farmers of this section a good
crop every year for twenty-seven years, while disastrous failures have elsewhere
occurred. Corn is planted in April, after the rains have ceased, and a good crop
is often raised without a drop of rain having fallen upon it; by good crop we
mean, on the best bottom lands, from eighty to one hundred bushels to the acre.

   We have mentioned the fog which sets in about the 1st of May. This
phenomenon, of almost daily occurrence from May to the middle of August, is an
important factor in the growth of the crop along the sea coast and on the bay of
San Francisco. About the 1st of May the trade winds set in from the northwest.
The Spanish galleons, bound from Manilla to Accapulco—three hundred years
ago—steered for cape Mendocino, where they would encounter the northwest trade,
and run before it, with swelling sails, to their beautiful harbor, Acapulco. To
these winds the farmer of Sonoma, of our own time, is indebted for their
never-failing crop. After a drying north wind in spring, which has parched the
earth and twisted the blades of the growing grain, the trade sets in, and, as if
by magic, the scene changes, the shriveled blades unfold, and absorb life at
every pore from the moisture-laden breeze.

   When the trade winds set in, a fog-bank forms every day off the land, caused,
perhaps, by the meeting of a cold and warm strata of air. In the afternoon this
fog comes inland with the breeze, which commences about noon every day. It is
not an unhealthful fog; on the contrary, the most healthful season of the year
is when the trade winds prevail. The fog spreads through the county late in the
afternoon, continues through the night, and disappears about sunrise. This mild
process of irrigation is repeated nearly every day during the season.   The
farmer estimates that three heavy fogs are equal to a light rain.
The growing season is from six weeks to two months longer on the coist than in
the interior; the grass keeps green, and this accounts for the productiveness of
the dairy cows on the coast, and also for the fact that the wool of this section
is very superior in length of staple, strength of fibre and in color, to that
grown in the interior of the State.

   We will give a brief review of the seasons since the American occupation of
the country, as they affected Sonoma county. The season of 1849-50 was extremely
wet; there was no rain gauge in this county, but not less than 45 inches of rain
fell; the whole of Santa Rosa and Petaluma plains were flooded. In 1850-51 the
rainfall was light; estimating by the reported fall of 4.10 inches in Sacramento
city, it must have been about 12 inches here.

   In 1851-52 the rainfall in this county was 24 inches; in 1852—3 there were
very heavy rains, and the whole of Petaluma and Santa Rosa valleys were under
water; there was a fall of not less than 42 inches, estimating the average of
one-fourth more rain here than in San Francisco, where a fall of 33.5 inches is
reported.

   In 1853-54 the rainfall was 29 inches; in 1854-5, 30 inches; in 1855-6, 25
inches; in 1856-7, 25 inches; in 1857-8, 23 inches; in 1858-9, 23 inches; in
1859-60, 21 inches; in 1860-1, 17 inches; in 1861-2,46 inches; in 1862-3,17
inches; in 1863-4, 12 inches; in 1864-5, 26 inches; in 1866-7, 40 inches; in
1867-8, 50 inches; in 1868-9, 26 inches; in 1869-70, 25 inches; in 1870-71, 17
inches; in 1871-2, 40 inches; in 1872-3, 21.58 inches; in 1873-4, 29.54 inches;
in 1874-5, 23.30 inches; in 1875-6, 32.10 inches. Mean annual rainfall for
twenty-six years, 27 inches.

   Our crops have been more often injured by too much, than by too little rain.
In the dry years of 1863-4 and 1864-5, enormous crops were raised in this
county; while in the greater part of the State there was an absolute failure of
crops and grass.

   Sonoma county is exempt from malarial disorders. There are no extremes of
heat or cold, and nothing like winter. It is probable that more roses and
flowers bloom in this valley, in December, than in all the hot-houses of New
England. The climate is all that the most fastidious could ask. There are no
troublesome insects that prey upon vegetation or humanity. As an evidence of the
evenness of the temperature, we will state, in conclusion on this subject, that
the same clothing may be worn here the year round, and is not too light for
winter or too heavy for summer wear.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORICAL
AND
DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH
OF
SONOMA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
BY
ROBERT A. THOMPSON,
EDITOR OF "THE SONOMA DEMOCRAT."
PHILADELPHIA:
L. H. EVERTS & CO. 
1877.


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