Southeast Desert Basins
Mojave and Colorado deserts; the only monsoon division.
Climate divisions are broad reporting areas. Golden State Weather's eighteen terrain regions nest inside them imperfectly but usefully: the division supplies the statewide frame, while the region explains which range, gap, basin or coastline makes one station differ from the next.
Eastern Sierra & Owens ValleyA deep valley in the deepest rain shadow in North America.BEYOND THE CREST3 PLACESMojave DesertThe high desert, and the lowest, hottest point in the hemisphere inside it.DESERTS4 PLACESColorado Desert & Salton TroughBelow sea level, below three inches of rain, and the one part of California with a real monsoon.DESERTS3 PLACES
California map highlighting Southeast Desert Basins.
3 terrain regions, 10 stations. Atlas regions assigned to CA-7.
The atlas station sample
PRO · NOT AN AREAL AVERAGEThese figures summarize the named NOAA stations attached to this site's places inside the division. They are useful for comparing its internal spread, but they are not NCEI's official gridded or area-weighted divisional series. Mountains and cities are intentionally over-represented because this is a terrain atlas.
10Atlas stations
2.2–10.2″Annual precipitation
64.2–104.2°FJuly mean
-190–6,463ftStation elevation
| Place | Region | Elev ft | Jan mean | Jul mean | Annual precip | Snow | Nov–Apr share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgeport | Eastern Sierra & Owens Valley | 6,463 | 26.8° | 64.2° | 10.2″ | 31.9″ | 71% |
| Bishop | Eastern Sierra & Owens Valley | 4,150 | 39.9° | 78.2° | 4.8″ | — | 78% |
| Lone Pine | Eastern Sierra & Owens Valley | 3,727 | 43.9° | 84.7° | 5.4″ | — | 84% |
| Furnace Creek | Mojave Desert | -190 | 54.9° | 104.2° | 2.2″ | — | 73% |
| Barstow | Mojave Desert | 2,175 | 47.1° | 86.9° | 5.0″ | 0.3″ | 77% |
| Needles | Mojave Desert | 495 | 56.2° | 98.5° | 4.3″ | — | 69% |
| Lancaster | Mojave Desert | 2,350 | 45.0° | 82.4° | 6.8″ | — | 89% |
| Palm Springs | Colorado Desert & Salton Trough | 479 | 59.0° | 94.0° | 4.6″ | — | 82% |
| Blythe | Colorado Desert & Salton Trough | 268 | 54.8° | 93.9° | 3.6″ | — | 67% |
| El Centro | Colorado Desert & Salton Trough | -39 | 57.2° | 92.5° | 2.5″ | — | 68% |