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==Geography==
The character of the ranges varies considerably, from the record-setting [[tidewater glacier]]s in the ranges of Alaska, to the rugged Central and [[Southern California]] ranges, the [[Transverse Ranges]] and [[Peninsular Ranges]], in the [[California chaparral and woodlands|chaparral and woodlands]] eco-
There are [[coastal plains]] at the mouths of rivers that have punched through the mountains spreading sediments, most notably at the [[Copper River (Alaska)|Copper River]] in Alaska, the [[Fraser River]] in British Columbia, and the [[Columbia River]] between Washington and Oregon. In California: the [[Sacramento River|Sacramento]] and [[San Joaquin River|San Joaquin]] Rivers' [[San Francisco Bay]], the [[Santa Clara River (California)|Santa Clara River's]] [[Oxnard Plain]] ''(home to some of the most fertile soil in the world),'' the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana Rivers' [[Los Angeles Basin]] - a coastal sediment-filled plain between the peninsular and transverse ranges with sediment in the basin up to 6 miles (10 km) deep, and the San Diego River's [[Mission Bay, San Diego, California|Mission Bay]].
From the vicinity of San Francisco Bay north,(hi⊙_ʘ) it is common in winter for cool unstable air masses from the [[Gulf of Alaska]] to make landfall in one of the Coast Ranges, resulting in heavy [[precipitation (meteorology)|precipitation]], both as [[rain]] and [[snow]], especially on their western slopes. The same Winter weather occurs with less frequency and precipitation in Southern California, with the mountains' western faces and peaks causing an eastward [[rainshadow]] that produces the arid [[Desert Region of California|desert regions]].
Omitted from the list below, but often included is the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]], a major mountain range of eastern California that is separated by the [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley]] over much of its length from the California Coast Ranges and the Transverse Ranges.<ref>{{cite web
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