Urban Ag for Southern Californians (March 2015) | Page 6

Climate
The natural landscape of Southern California consists of one of the more varied collections of
geologic, topographic, and natural ecosystem landscapes in a diversity outnumbering other
major regions in the state and country. The region spans from Pacific Ocean islands, shorelines,

beaches, and coastal plains, through the Transverse and Peninsular Mountain Ranges with their
peaks, into the large and small interior valleys, to the vast deserts of California.

The overall geography of Southern California can be further divided into two regions: the

Coastal Region and the Desert Region. The Coastal Region is more densely populated. This
region includes the coastal interior valleys west of the coastal mountains with all of Orange
County and portions of San Diego, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo

counties. The Desert Region is divided from the Coastal Region by the coastal mountain

ranges, such as the Santa Ana Mountains. It is larger and sparsely populated, with portions of
Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial, and San Diego counties.