Northern California : Economics (Ch. 4)

Northern California Economy

Northern California economy is one that is considered Diverse. It is very diverse in a sense that it produces many agricultural products from grapes (as discussed earlier), to rice, green beans, apples, oranges, carrots, peppers, and all sorts of agricultural products. At the same time, Northern California is home to many younger billionaires of our time due to its location to Silicon Valley, home to Facebook, Apple, Google, Yahoo!, Intel, AMD, and various other newer tech firms. Besides this, Northern California is also home to the San Francisco-Oakland port where it is a main hub connecting much of the west coast to the country. It is in an ideal location due to land connections via rail, river, and roadways to the rest of the country. Though much smaller compared to Detroit, the auto industry is also starting a boom in Northern California with newer companies such as Tesla Motors, based in Fremont, CA where the all electric car Tesla Roadster is made and manufactured.

Inside the Tesla Factory in Fremont, CA

VVideo of the Northern California Economy

Port of Oakland

Northern California : Megalopolis (Ch. 7)

San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland

According the the US Census Bureau 2010, the 5th largest metropolitan area is that located around San Francisco, behind only New York, Greater Los Angeles,  Chicago Metropolitan and Washington area in terms of population. The San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland consist of about 8-9 million people. The area is known for its high diversity population with about 52.5 white, Hispanic/Latino 23.5, Asians coming to about 23.3% of the population and mix of other. Though the public transportation in the downtown San Francisco is common with Bus, Trollies (usually seen in movies), subway, ferry boat, and railroads are abundant, 80.9% of the metropolitan residents still use automobile as the main mean of transportation.

City of San Francisco Connected by the Old Bay Bridge to Oakland

City of San Francisco

San Jose, California

San Francisco hills with Trolly Tracks

San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Megalopolis in Red

Northern California : Climate (Ch. 2)

Northern California Climate

Northern California has a diverse geography extending from the coast to the snow capped mountains of Sierra Nevada to the east. The climate is generally characterized like Mediterranean climates along the coast due to the latitudinal location. Towards the mountains, it is somewhat Continental Mediterranean climate to Alpine climate zones in the high mountains.

Northern California Coast

A Giant Sequoia Tree situated in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where Alpine Climate zones are present during the winter and spring months.

Smith River in Northern California where Continental Mediterranean Climate is common. 

San Francisco Coastal Northwest weather

Northern California : North of the cities (Ch. 5)

Northern California: North of the Cities

Past north the megalopolis of the San Jose-San Francisco-Sacramento, lies counties where most are lightly populated and isolated. Cities include from Santa Rosa (north of San Francisco) to Elk Valley (towards the coast boardering Oregon, and from Lake Tahoe (Bordering Nevada) to Devils Garden to the most North Eastern part of the state. This area of California is known for its many Rivers and lakes including the main Klamath River, Eel River, the Sacramento River, and San Joaquin River for which all end up draining either to the San Francisco Bay or the Pacific Ocean. All these rivers receive their waters mainly from the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

These areas are mainly rural and are agricultural areas. Popular in these areas are most known for their redwood trees, and hilly and mountainous areas. The north coast offers a popular scenic drive along the Pacific Coast Highway. The area is among the most rural and least populated in California mainly known for River activities.


Northern California showing multiple river basins and lakes (Courtesy of California Nevada River Forecast Center) http://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/