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.
