Is the San Joaquin Valley really a desert? (Fresno, Bakersfield: real estate, 2014)

[Brandon Graves]

I may be biased based on what some say about it, but is the San Joaquin Valley really a desert? If so, which areas in the valley? I remember stopping in Bakersfield on the way back to Indio from Las Vegas five and a half years ago, and at that time it was really hot and looked a bit like a desert.

Examples (average annual rainfall):

Bakersfield - 6.4 in
Taft - 6.4 in
Los Banos - 9.9 in
Hanford - 9.5 in
(Note: Again, these may be biased.)

Any answers are appreciated. Thank you in advance!

[Ruth4Truth]

I've seen "San Joaquin Valley" defined different ways. By some, Los Banos isn't part of it. But leaving hair-splitting aside, I think the drought, which started around 2011, was a factor in what you were seeing. It's helpful to realize that rain patterns historically have been different that what they've been for most of the current decade. It's possible that it's in the early phase of turning into a desert. Due to an exceptional year of rain, from the La Nina effect, it's not clear yet whether the extended drought will resume after the La Nina effect is over.
Here's a bit from Wiki:

The San Joaquin Valley has hot, dry summers and has historically enjoyed cool rainy winters characterized by dense tule fog. Its rainy season normally runs from November through April, but since 2011 when a drought became evident it generally received minimal to no rain at all. The drought was still extant by mid-August 2014 with scientists saying it would likely continue indefinitely, for anywhere from several years to several decades to come.

[Chimérique]

No, the San Joaquin Valley is not a desert. It receive double, sometime triple, the average annual rainfall than the Mojave desert for example.

Deserts generally do not have fertile soil and the San Joaquin has fertile soil which is one of the reasons it is one of the most productive vegetable and fruit growing regions in the entire world.

Also, The San Joaquin Valley has a major river flowing through it, feed by numerous other mountain rivers.

The San Joaquin Valley also averages 10 degrees cooler both low and high temps during the spring, summer and fall.

[Des-Lab]

Depends on what PART of the Valley you are referencing.

Geographically speaking, it encompasses a large area. It averages only about 55 miles in width but is about 400 or so miles in length. That's a lot of real estate and varies greatly in appearance and weather.

As a general guideline, Fresno seems to be more or less the line of demarcation. North of there (Madera, Merced, Turlock, Stockton, Lodi, Modesto, Tracy, etc), it tends to be somewhat greener because it generally does get more rain.

Fresno proper itself tends to be a tossup.

The southern part (Visalia, Tulare, Hanford, Porterville, Corcoran, Bakersfield, Delano, etc) is much, much drier. And thus....browner. Indeed it seems like almost every time a storm hits CA, this region is almost always "spared". The brunt of it will pass to either side (and soak the northern Valley or else inundate the LA area). So while much of the rest of the State gets drenched, the South Valley gets little more than "used" weather in the form of light, transitory sprinkles. On the very rare occasions hard rain hits, it's always very brief and clears out as quickly as it came in.

The old Tulare lake bed, the approximate boundaries being present day Hanford to the north, a few miles short of Delano to the east, Stratford to the west, and Kettleman City to the south, is some of the most remote and desolate land in the state. It's an odd mix of barren, shrub desert and low lying greenery in the form of cotton that stretches from horizon to horizon. Were it not for irrigation and overflow from the Kings river, this place could be easily mistaken for some barren stretches of Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, or eastern Colorado.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by Des-Lab

400 or so miles in length. That's a lot of real estate and varies greatly in appearance and weather.

Pretty sure you go that part wrong, heavens knows we should be "exaggerating", lol.

It's more like 250 to 275 miles long.

[Hapa1]

Originally Posted by Brandon Graves

I remember stopping in Bakersfield on the way back to Indio from Las Vegas five and a half years ago, and at that time it was really hot and looked a bit like a desert

Bakersfield is really far out of the way from Las Vegas to Indio. Did you go there for other reasons?

[Brandon Graves]

Originally Posted by Hapa1

Bakersfield is really far out of the way from Las Vegas to Indio. Did you go there for other reasons?

Other than stopping there for something to eat and a bathroom break, no. At the time (it was in summer) I stopped in Bakersfield, like I said, I believe it felt something like 110-115°F, and that the natural terrain, surrounding the area's irrigation farms, was indeed a bit brown.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

No, the San Joaquin Valley is not a desert. It receive double, sometime triple, the average annual rainfall than the Mojave desert for example.

Deserts generally do not have fertile soil and the San Joaquin has fertile soil which is one of the reasons it is one of the most productive vegetable and fruit growing regions in the entire world.

Also, The San Joaquin Valley has a major river flowing through it, feed by numerous other mountain rivers.

The San Joaquin Valley also averages 10 degrees cooler both low and high temps during the spring, summer and fall.

This entire post but especially the bold part answers this definitively. Deserts don't have major rivers plus their tributaries flowing through them. The SJ Valley is the drier half of a grassland called the Central Valley which is really a type of prairie.

[Californiaguy2007]

The San Joaquin Valley is an Arid Region,but despite this it is rather green in most areas since it's also an Agricultural Area,but some areas in places like Taft or areas without any Agriculture may look somewhat similar to a desert with it's dry/barren appearance.

Yes summers are hot here,but not as bad as places like Las Vegas or Phoenix because we do occasionally get cooler marine air which moderates the summer temps which is more noticeable during the evenings.

The San Joaquin Valley also has a great diversity of bird life which normally you would not find in a true desert environment....It really is strange seeing birds here that normally you would think belong in other more humid parts of the Country,but I guess if their's food and water the birds survive here despite our
Hot-Dry-Summers.

Originally Posted by Brandon Graves

I may be biased based on what some say about it, but is the San Joaquin Valley really a desert? If so, which areas in the valley? I remember stopping in Bakersfield on the way back to Indio from Las Vegas five and a half years ago, and at that time it was really hot and looked a bit like a desert.

Examples (average annual rainfall):

Bakersfield - 6.4 in
Taft - 6.4 in
Los Banos - 9.9 in
Hanford - 9.5 in
(Note: Again, these may be biased.)

Any answers are appreciated. Thank you in advance!

[Kevroqs]

I drove through it last year and some parts are like a desert because there wasn't any vegetation and the ground was brown.