As we have proposed, the Book of Mormon lands would have been in a Mediterranean climate area similar to the land of Jerusalem, such as Baja California (see our main article, An Approach to the Book of Mormon Geography: A Land Choice Above All Other Lands). Thus the seeds brought by Lehi’s family from the land of Jerusalem would have been planted in an analogous environment where they could “grow exceedingly” (1 Ne. 18:24). If grapes, figs and barley grew well in the land of Jerusalem, they potentially would grow just as abundantly and successfully in the Nephite’s new homeland of Baja California. Both the Bible lands and the area of Baja California are in areas of Mediterranean or similar climates. Areas of Mediterranean climate occur in only a few spots of the earth’s surface. All are located in the mid-latitudes and only on the west side of continents because of the earth’s atmospheric circulation of high pressure cells that control the temperature and precipitation patterns of these climates. The largest area of Mediterranean climate is located around its namesake the Mediterranean Sea, the ancestral home of the Book of Mormon peoples, and an area they knew firsthand. The state of California and the peninsula of Baja California in Mexico are the only areas with Mediterranean and similar climates in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere there is a small area of Mediterranean climate centered on the city of Santiago, Chile, and in limited areas around the cities of Perth and Adelaide, Australia, and in parts of South Africa.

Mediterranean climates throughout the world are located on the west coasts of continents. Thus the rivers within these climate regions are located on the west side of continental watershed divides and flow in a general westerly direction towards the sea. This is true of Al Awali (the River Sidon) in Lebanon and the Rio San Ignacio in Baja California—both associated with Mediterranean climates. Therefore, the reasoning that the seeds brought from the land of Jerusalem by Lehi’s family required a climate similar to the Biblical lands to “grow exceeding,” could also lend support to an assertion the Book of Mormon river Sidon would be expected to flow in a general westward direction, the same as other rivers in Mediterranean climates.