How dry or fresh is it in SoCal - another climate, weatehr dillema. (San Diego: 2015)

[ua101]

After 20 years in Toronto, I'm at a point where I only enjoy it for about 4-5 months which is during short spring and fall otherwise it's too cold or too hot. I hear people from the east coast always saying that West coast is too dry. I'm constantly looking at weather and humidity levels for places like Manhattan Beach, San Diego, San Fransisco...and its always above 50%, which is the cut of for me, anything lower I feel my skin is shrinking, anything higher then 75% depends on the temperature, if it's colder then 60F I can take high humidity no problems up to 100%, with extreme heat, anything over 77F too humid my nose is stuffed, too dry - my skin is shrinking so I'm stuck in not adapting well to high heat or high cold.



Here in T.O. I'd say during the course of a year it's about 75% of the time dry around 50% or slightly below. I realize I will have to suffer no matter where I lend so the question becomes how many months will I suffer. The things I like about T.O. is the sunshine spread, we never have too many clear sunny days in a row, to many grey days in a row, it's a good balance, but I don't like clear and sunny days nor depressingly grey days, kind of like partly cloudy or fully cloudy combination so it's not bright where you squint yet you're not depressed.



Not sure if there are people here that lived in T.O for at least a couple of years and a couple of years in Coastal LA area to give the an accurate assessment: so Questions about Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica and LA area.:


1) How dry is in comparison to Toronto, maybe break down of both summer, winter months?
2) Where is the break line from being right near the water cool and breezy and getting hot and dry going inland, is it 3 miles, 5 miles......

3) How many days per year would you say are partly cloudy or cloudy and what time of the year .. is it spread out?
4)Does it happen that there is a long period of lets say a week or 10 days where it's just plain sunny and no clouds at all, or is there always a break with a cloudy day?
5) There is the fog, then there is the smog, I''ll take both if it blocks the sun, so the question is how many days or months is is "Dull" because of the fog or smog and is it concentrated in certain period or spread out evenly over 12 months? And is it in the morning only or during the high heat 12-4pm time?
6) Santa Ana, how often does it come in during a course of the year and how long does it last in days, is it easier for coastal locations to handle it?


7) General air quality...I don't see any vegetation on the map at all in the areas I mentioned, so even though there is marine breeze, unless there is a lot of marine life and vegetation underwater near the coast, so does the air feel fresh - kind of like green forest fresh type of thing.



When I was in Clearwater, FL for 6 months Oct - April, even though Florida is humid, right near the water it's not as fresh I mean you have the breeze, but the vegetation or lack of it, is all dry, and underneath the water it's mostly sand so it's just water on top of the desert. So my worry is it might feel the same as Florida which is kind of feels like it's kind of brezzy but not as fresh since there is no vegetation that will create enough oxygen like it would be in a forest.


7) Are there any public places with shade at all in the coastal areas, like a big tree you can sit under, small park with vegetation, or is it so highly contested for square footage so public vegetation or places with shade shielded from the road is non existent.


Sorry for a long reply.



Cheers.

[nightlysparrow]

The weather except for sunshine is not even remotely like that in Florida, even on the beaches. Never a "green forest fresh" feeling. Santa Ana humidity levels can easily be 4%, your lips crack. Most of the year vegetation is brown and workers plow it down if it's near houses. The only time it's green is after Spring rains, if they even happen. In a month or two, everything's brown again. Even the few trees are a dull green, except for palm trees, which provide zero shade.

[Count David]

The west coast isn't too dry. IMO it is just right. By California standards, Toronto would be considered quite humid. I spent 4 days in Toronto in March 2002; prior to that, I had never really experienced "cold" before, it was colder than anything I had experienced in Southern CA.

In the LA basin, east of I-5 would be a good breaking point from temperatures heavily moderated by the ocean. It can get hot, but not uncomfortable like the eastern half of US/Canada. The valleys (San Fernando, San Gabriel, Inland Empire, etc) will be much warmer during the day during the summer, and can also get colder at night during the winter (we're talking 40's/50's with the occasional high 30's every once in a while).

It is sunny much of the year, this time of year being one of the gloomier times. Your cloud breaks won't occur as often as you might expect.

It isn't unusual for it to be overcast/foggy to start the day, and be sunny before lunch. It can be smoggy any time of the year, Santa Ana's tend to drive it out.

I find the air to be fresh, particularly near the ocean. It has the ideal "weight" if that makes any sense.

Yes, there are places to find shade.

Read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Los_Angeles

[ua101]

I've looked and read all the climate pages I can find, but nothing tells a story more like a resident plus climate is changing the planet is getting dryer. Now the cloud breaks, my main concern is the summer so lets say starting from now or June to September, is it just plain sun in your face all day everyday?

[Count David]

Originally Posted by ua101

I've looked and read all the climate pages I can find, but nothing tells a story more like a resident plus climate is changing the planet is getting dryer. Now the cloud breaks, my main concern is the summer so lets say starting from now or June to September, is it just plain sun in your face all day everyday?

Play with this: https://www.wunderground.com/history...eqdb.wmo=99999

[BGS91762]

I personally love the Southern CA climate. I'm from the Midwest and think our summers are way nicer as there is little to no humidity. I really can't take the humidity of the east coast areas. Yes we are not as green during the summer months buy way greener than the east during the winter months. I've been in Toronto and would not be able to take the greyness of the winter months. Also the months of bear trees is ugly. Give me So Cal anytime!!

[ua101]

David when is it more dry right now summer time or winter time?

[Mr_Geek]

Originally Posted by ua101

David when is it more dry right now summer time or winter time?

https://weather-and-climate.com/aver...tes-of-America