The City of Mexicali | Municipality of Baja California

Mexicali is the capital city of the Mexican State of Northern Baja California. It is the northmost city in Latin America, located on the northwest side of Mexico (32° 40´ North – 115° 28´ West), and it borders north with Calexico, California, USA. The city is called “the city that captured the sun” due to the high temperatures that every year reach 50°C (around 122 °F) during the summer.

The city’s official recorded foundation date is March 14 1903 by a document where the town was first mentioned. It is said that the name was coined by Colonel Sanginés, then governor of the District of Northern Baja California by combining the words Mexico and California. Another theory states that given the birth of two neighboring cities in the times of the irrigation of the Imperial Valley, there was a Mexico-American commission named

the two cities Mexicali in Mexico and Calexico in California. Nowadays both cities acknowledge their common origins and are officially Sister Cities.

In the book “El Río, Cronología de Mexicali” (The River, Mexicali Chronology), it is mentioned that the main street at that time (today López Mateos Blvd), was congested with railroad crossing tracks, was called “la calle de fierro” (the street of iron) because of the metal rails. However, some government officials didn’t like the name and chose to rename it using the counterpart of the neighboring town of Calexico. Even then people kept on calling the street of iron by that name and started to call Mexicali the group of houses that were part of it.

Weather
The weather in Mexicali, by its geographical coordinates, is hot and dry with very low annual pluvial precipitations. Its location above the Cancer Tropic makes this an extreme region, reaching temperatures from -3°C (27 °F) in winter to 53 °C (127°F) in summer. Different meteorologists predicted ‘a rise in the temperatures never seen in the last 120 years, something unheard of in the history of this city.

Border
Mexicali borders directly to the north with the city of Calexico California, sharing both extreme weather conditions. The city of Calexico is where the Mexicali people go to do their shopping, from small articles to cars. Some Mexicali children and teenagers go to schools in that city.

Natural Resources
Even though Mexicali is known for its dry and deserted terrain, it is a very privileged municipality due to the amount of natural resources, with outstanding water deposits in its valley, due to the filtration of Colorado River waters. Plus, at the bottom of the Cerro Prieto Volcano, you can find one of the largest Geothermic plants in all Latin America, where large quantities of natural gas and electric energy.