gated community along the coastline of
Laguna Beach, Orange County The area includes the North Coast,
San Francisco Bay Area, Central Coast, and South Coast. The coastline is slowly eroding due to natural processes accelerated by climate change, though much more slowly in other places in the United States. In the last 100 years, the water line has risen less than along the coast of California. In the next 100 years, the water is expected to surge as much as , bringing into question the fate of the many million dollar homes settled right on the edge of the sea.
Climate Coastal California is heavily influenced by east–west distances to the dominant cold
California Current as well as
microclimates. Due to hills and coast ranges having strong meteorological effects, summer and winter temperatures (other than occasional heat waves) are heavily moderated by ocean currents and fog with strong
seasonal lags compared to interior valleys as little as away.
Point Conception tends to divide the Coastal region by mid-summer into warmer (south and east) and cooler zones (north). Peak and often intense heat tends to arrive in September much later than the rest of the nation or state. Over time,
droughts and
wildfires have increased in frequency and become less seasonal and more year-round, further straining the region's
water security. Furthermore, extended droughts and decadal changes in land use are causing severe shoreline retreat to the coast of the Gulf of Santa Catalina.
Counties near
Gaviota, Santa Barbara County , Monterey County , San Francisco The counties commonly seen as constituting coastal California are: ;
South Coast •
Los Angeles •
Orange •
San Diego ;
Central Coast •
Monterey •
San Benito •
San Luis Obispo •
Santa Barbara •
Santa Cruz •
Ventura ;
San Francisco Bay Area •
Alameda •
Contra Costa •
Marin •
Napa •
San Francisco •
San Mateo •
Santa Clara •
Solano •
Sonoma ;
North Coast •
Del Norte •
Humboldt •
Mendocino ==Demographics==