Do you get offended when ignorant people call all of California a desert? (San Diego: house, landscaping)

[RelocatingWestHelpMe]

I'v seen some comments where East Coasters come to conclusion that anything deeper 5 miles inland of the Pacific is desert. Obviously that's not the case. You noticed the difference right away when you enter Arizona or Nevada in contrast to California's mountain environment.

From LA, it doesn't become desert until you reach Palm Spring's Coachella Valley.

[BeauCharles]

I don't know how many times I've seen comments in national articles about the California drought and water woes along the lines of "Its a desert, act like it is!". Um, no, its not. My town averages 30 inches of rain a year. That's far from a desert. We've got a wide range of climates in this huge state with greatly varying rainfall amounts.

[i'm not a cookie]

Originally Posted by RelocatingWestHelpMe

I'v seen some comments where East Coasters come to conclusion that anything deeper 5 miles inland of the Pacific is desert. Obviously that's not the case. You noticed the difference right away when you enter Arizona or Nevada in contrast to California's mountain environment.

From LA, it doesn't become desert until you reach Palm Spring's Coachella Valley.

This makes me seriously question if you've ever driven from La to Phoenix or LA to Vegas. I do the drive from La to Phoenix at least 8 times a year and there is literally no difference when crossing the border. I actually don't start to see a difference until I get 40 miles west of Palms Springs in terms of desert landscaping. 35% of the state of California is desert btw so people who refer to the whole state as a desert are just uninformed. Same goes for people who refer to the entire state of Arizona as a desert when AZ is only 42% desert and is over 1/3 forest.

[sourdough]

Offends me the same amount as folks typing, “Cali”.

[Winston Smith]

Maybe "offended" isn't exactly the term, but I get put off. Yes, there are deserts in California, but the whole state is not a desert. Even in Southern California, the coastal region is Mediterranean with coastal chaparral. Though rain is atypical most of the year -- normal for a Mediterranean climate -- it's not the same as "desert." When I hear people refer to coastal So Cal as "a desert," it just says to me that they are misinformed. Someone who refers to California in general as a desert says to me that the person is simply parroting a blanket assumption that s/he heard somewhere without taking time to educate her/himself. Such a statement has no basis in reality.

[saibot]

Not offended, exactly, but these people do come across as ignorant. It's as though I were to refer to all of Washington State as "wet and gloomy." Incidentally, I seem to hear as many people who actually live in California referring to it as a desert, as folks from other states.

[RosieSD]

San Diego gets less rainfall on average per year than Tuscon and that was true BEFORE our current drought. LA gets a bit more, but not by much. Used to be I called the climate in Southern California "mediterranean" but then I realized that wasn't really true. If there wasn't any manmade planting or watering here, you'd have mostly dried chapparel along the coast, and a scattering of trees at higher elevation -- very similar to high desert places like New Mexico or the higher elevations in Arizona.

The only reason there's more greenery along the coast in Southern California than say Phoenix is because of coastal moisture/fog and many years of nonnatural watering and non-native planting. True, they have more cactus in Phoenix, but there aren't a ton of cacti in New Mexico, and it's still "desert."

Sorry, but, yeah, Southern California really is closer to "desert" than anything else.

Now, it's a little different in parts of Northern California along the coast, where there is more rainfall and thus a different ecosystem. But, go inland to say Redding, and you're back into a different native landscape that is more similar to higher desert like New Mexico or Southern Utah.

But, let's say that there is a "mediterranean" climate along the coast. There is still a heck of a lot of "desert" in California, and it doesn't take very many miles to get to it. So, I can understand how out of staters might have the impression that all of California is "desert"

(P.S. thanks for the rep from the person who told me I am wrong. )

[saibot]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

Sorry, but, yeah, Southern California really is closer to "desert" than anything else.

This is a picture taken near my house during the dry season, in the foothills of Orange County, about 15 miles from the coast. It was not planted nor watered by humans; the vegetation is mostly native. The grasses have dried out but the trees and small bushes are still green. Compare to any picture of the landscape around Palm Springs or Las Vegas and you will see that while indeed semi-arid, this is not a "desert" landscape.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by saibot

This is a picture taken near my house during the dry season, in the foothills of Orange County, about 15 miles from the coast. It was not planted nor watered by humans; the vegetation is mostly native. The grasses have dried out but the trees and small bushes are still green. Compare to any picture of the landscape around Palm Springs or Las Vegas and you will see that while indeed semi-arid, this is not a "desert" landscape.

I was just in New Mexico last week, which is considered "high desert." Your back yard doesn't look much different than New Mexico this time of year, except maybe a little less green.

[saibot]

I don't know what part of New Mexico you were in. Some parts are considered arid and others are not. NM gets the summer monsoon which SoCal generally does not; we get our rain in the winter. So it's not too surprising that NM would be more green right now.

The elevation in the picture I posted above is only about 1000 feet so it wouldn't qualify as high desert, or high elevation at all. In any case, desert vegetation in California is things like Joshua trees, yuccas, and tumbleweeds and doesn't resemble any of the coastal areas. But if you want to consider coastal SoCal "desert," go right ahead--no skin off my back.

For reference, this is a Google image of "California desert" :