Reflection 2

   Like my first reflection post, I have been to the location I am reflecting on. Palm Desert, California is a place I know all too well. I find it funny, however, how the author of the Palm Desert posts appears to genuinely enjoy the Palm Desert area. I, on the other hand, am very happy to no longer live in that area.
   I spent a few years in California a little north of Palm Desert, more specifically in Twentynine Palms, CA. These two cities are very similar in climate, and I have been to Palm Desert enough times to understand its climate.
   Comparing the beautiful, seaside city of Barcelona to the burned out city of Palm Desert seems like a terrible thing to do, but it makes sense seeing that they have such different climates.

http://travel.usnews.com/images/
destinations/97/temperature_f_11.jpg
Barcelona, Spain

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt6ynrl2vG1qmafkw.jpg
Palm Desert, CA

   The two graphs above show the differences in average temperature between the two locations. Barcelona rarely gets much higher than the low 80s during the summer months, and will reach down into the mid 50's. Palm Desert, on the other hand, maxes out at the high 110's and gets as low as the low 40s.
   Along with these maximum values, just looking at how different the temperatures are depending on the time of year shows some major differences. Palm Desert is a little over 100 miles inland, so it experiences the continentality effect. Along with this, the desert climate means there is very little vegetation, so temperatures are free to fluctuate readily. Barcelona, on the other hand, exists in a maritime climate, with the Mediterranean Sea just off its coast. This large waterbody means Barcelona's temperatures fluctuate much less, and the area experiences much less seasonality.

http://travel.usnews.com/images/
destinations/97/precipitation_in_11.jpg
Barcelona, Spain

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt6yv7n7LT1qmafkw.jpg
Palm Desert, CA

   These precipitation graphs show the extremely different levels of precipitation the two areas experience. Interestingly, Palm Desert experiences more rain in the winter months while Barcelona sees more in the late summer months.

   To sum up, these two locations have very different climates, and even though both have a certain amount of sand making up their surface layer, only one is really worth building sand castles on.