Coachella Valley

The Coachella Valley is a desert valley in the Colorado Desert of Southern California. It is famous as a resort destination and an agricultural region. It is a dry rift valley.

The cities of the Coachella Valley from west to east are:

• Desert Hot Springs
• Palm Springs
• Cathedral City
• Rancho Mirage
• Palm Desert
• Indian Wells
• La Quinta
• Indio
• Coachella

Many people visit the area during tourist season, which is from September to June. It has a hot desert climate (BWh in the Koeppen climate classification) Winter in the Coachella Valley is warm. Summer is very hot, with temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit/40 degrees Centigrade. Although the area is a desert, there is lots of water both under the ground and in aqueducts from the Colorado River. The weather is so similar to that in the Middle East that the area grows more than 95% of the nation's crop of dates. A grapefruit called the "Coachella Grapefruit" was first grown there.

One of the world's greatest engineering feats is in Palm Springs. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway brings visitors from the floor of the valley to the top of Mount San Jacinto, 8516 feet (3000 metres) up.