Re: Why doesn't it snow in Marin County California?

Hi Caroline.

These sorts of "why" questions are difficult to answer in a satisfying way. If I 
were to say that it didn't snow there because the climate is too warm, I am just 
telling you something that you know already.
Why is the climate too warm? Well, mainly because you are so far South, or to be 
more accurate, so close to the equator. That means that the sun stays high in the 
sky, even in winter, and the sun warms things up. There is another important 
factor in California. You are next to the ocean, and it is to the West of you. In 
the wintertime, the wind usually blows from the West off the ocean over the land. 
Because the ocean is above freezing, the air over the ocean stays above freezing, 
and the winter Westerly winds keep California warm. But of course you can find 
snow in California. You have to go into the mountains because it gets colder as 
you go higher up, and you have to find mountain valleys that are a little 
sheltered from those warm Westerly winds.

Greetings from a country where there is not much snow anywhere. In Australia it 
is only the Southern part that ever gets cool enough for snow. Things are back-
to-front here. Because we are South of the equator, the Northern part of our 
country is hotter than the South. And even in the Southern part (I live in 
Melbourne, right near the South-Eastern corner) it never snows in the cities 
where people live -- only in the mountains. And we do not have much in the way of 
mountains. Just large hills. So many Australians have never seen nor experienced 
snow. And even people who live in Melbourne or Sydney have to drive for about 200 
kilometres or more to get to where the snow is in winter.