Where are summer thunderstorms common in California?

[Curmudgeon]

Summer thunderstorms were one of the things I missed most and now we have them in abundance. I can sympathize with those who do without. In 20 years living in Sacramento I recall only one of any real prominence and we reveled in it from our front porch. In fact, last night (hall we say pre-summer?) was a doozy of a severe thunderstorm and the light show was fantastic.

[DMenscha]

I believe that the SFBay area is the place in the world that has the fewest T-storms. My office window faces east and it's pretty cool to watch the summer build ups over the high country.

[freepelican]

Originally Posted by sav858

If you're from anywhere east of the Rockies it probably won't seem that bad. It's all relative and compared to Northern CA where I grew up its "humid" but usually you're talking dew points in the mid to high 60's at its worst, on rare occasions it might hit 70.

I agree it's all relative!

If you want the biggest baddest thunderstorm in the US, try spending a summer on southern Florida's east coast! Not only is the thunder so loud it shakes you down to your bones, it rumbles and roars for several minutes at a time! The lightning streaks across the sky so broadly and with such brilliant light, it seems like the heavens are opening up! So much water pours out of the sky, you're soaked to the skin in under a minute! It's scary and fun at the same time.

Makes every other thunderstorm I've experienced seem awfully tame!

[tstieber]

Besides the Sierras, the deserts also get a reasonable number of summer t-storms.

I also find SD pretty humid in the summer. If there isn't monsoonal flow, then it's the marine influence making it sticky, even though the temps may not be that high. If the monsoonal heat comes in, then it's even more humid, AND hot. Growing up in inland NorCal, it's something to get used to, as my childhood summers would see the humidity drop the hotter it got. When it was over 100f, the humidity would drop down to below ten percent at times in the afternoon, certainly below twenty percent. In SD, it seems to be somewhat opposite in the summer.

[justducky2]

In the Sierra foothills (Placerville area) I'd say we get one or two thunderstorms a year - maybe. Not much. Orographic lifting (cooling air) colliding with the warm monsoonal flow, I'd bet...

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by tstieber

Besides the Sierras, the deserts also get a reasonable number of summer t-storms.

I also find SD pretty humid in the summer. If there isn't monsoonal flow, then it's the marine influence making it sticky, even though the temps may not be that high. If the monsoonal heat comes in, then it's even more humid, AND hot.

^This. With dew points in the high 60's to around 70, it's every bit as humid as many places east of the rockies if you compare them on a weather map of dew points. The biggest difference is that the temperatures are in the high 70's not the mid 90's.