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Why the small community of Mount Laguna, California, just 55 miles from San Diego much colder than San Diego ?

2 Answers

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Final answer:

Mount Laguna is colder than San Diego due to its higher altitude leading to lower temperatures and its distance from the coast where water moderates the climate.

Step-by-step explanation:

The small community of Mount Laguna, California, is colder than San Diego due to a combination of factors including altitude and proximity to the coast. While water retains and loses heat more slowly than land, the temperature of the water influences the climate on the coast, leading to milder temperatures in coastal areas like San Diego.

Moreover, temperature decreases with higher altitudes, which explains why even tropical zone mountain tops can have snow. Therefore, despite being only 55 miles from San Diego, Mount Laguna experiences a cooler climate.

User Darkenor
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Answer: It all boils down to the two cities' proximity to the Pacific Ocean, along with wind currents and geographical location

Step-by-step explanation: It is known throughout the whole scientific community that a body of water near a city produces very stable temperatures throughout the year with small dips. When it is summer, instead of San Diego boiling in the heat, the Pacific absorbs most of this heat, making the heat in the city tolerable (almost), this makes the ocean appear cold in the summer.

When it turns to winter, the heat absorbed by the ocean in the summer gets radiated making the cold in San Diego negligible. Applying this same logic to Mount Laguna, which is not near a body of water, it can be understood that it would have more extreme temp. swings.

Along with water, there is wind currents. I don't live in Mount Laguna, but I have to assume from the context you gave me that a cold wind current usually flows there, making it colder than in San Diego, which has a warm current.

The location also matters, if this town is under a valley, canyon, or mountain it could be under a shadow further decreasing the temp. more than San Diego.

Hopefully this helps, and good luck!

User Robin Bajaj
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