Page 282 - Mexico Diving From the Caribbean to Pacific Isles

he state has maritime borders with So- tain ranges parallel the coastline and are The winters can see lows of below freezing.
of volcanic rock with an average altitude The exception to desert conditions is the
T nora and Sinaloa to the east, across the of 600 meters above sea level. The coastal Los Cabos region, classified as semi moist
plains are significantly wider on the Pa- because of Pacific hurricane activity affects
Gulf of California. The state is home to the cific side than the Gulf of California side. the region. The ecological system here is
tourist resorts of Cabo San Lucas and San considered to be recently evolved with a
José del Cabo. Its largest city and capital T he climate of the state is dry, with an number of endemic species. The lower el-
is La Paz. It is about 750 km long and av- average annual temperature between evations are dominated by desert and arid
erages about 100 km wide. Its major cit- 18 and 22C and average annual rainfall of condition plants. This includes the world’s
ies are La Paz (219,596) San Jose del Cabo less than 200mm. The lower elevations are largest species of cactus, the cardón cac-
(164,162) Ciudad Constitución (63,830) the driest and hottest, with temperatures tus, which can reach heights of 21 meters.
Santa Rosalia (52,743) Loreto (11,839). The climbing as high as over 40C in the summer.
territory is primarily mountains of moun-
tain ranges and coastal plains. The moun-