Sacramento area weather (Santa Clara: county, near, great)

[cityx]

Originally Posted by capitalcity

when winter begins. Last year we had lows in the 20's & last summer was pretty mild as well as this year. Sadly the air quality in Sacramento is horrible. There is a constant Brown haze that is almost black on some days. Downtown Sacramento is no longer visible from 15 miles away. The air quality makes the seasons here much less desirable than they once were. Sacramento used to be a great place to live because it was considered clean & healthy. Its really sad.

Unfortunately, I have to agree implicitly with this statement. Its a huge trade off living in any city that has sunny weather most of the year. In my opinion, I would give up more sunshine to have a little better air quality. The lack of weather systems stirring up the atmosphere is really prevalent in most of inland California from May through September leaving us with brown, stagnate air as soon as you pull more than 20 miles away from the coast. Sacramento is pretty much insulated from any ocean influence whatsoever, (with the exception of the occasional yet short lived delta breeze). We rely on that breeze not only to cool us off five or ten degrees but to blow all the smog away. This past week the heat has been rather uncomfortable with about six days over 100 degrees. The one upside is that since May this summer hasn't been nearly as bad as it was last year. I believe in July of 2006 we had about twelve or thirteen days straight of over 100 and many of those days it was between 107-112 degrees. I remember Stockton hit 115 degrees on one particular day setting the highest temperature in recorded history for that city. However, even though it hasn't been as oppressively hot this year it does seem like that air quality has been more stagnate and hazy these past few months. On the worst days I could feel it affecting not only my breathing but in my overall energy level.

[ukiyo-e]

I don't think anyone mentioned, or I missed it, but it does NOT rain here in the summer at all. Well, it seems every July there's one little drizzly day that freaks everyone out, but that's it. And if you like to garden, like I do - that's a big minus. On the other hand, you can plan an outdoor activity for almost any day between May and October and not have to worry about being rained out.

[cityx]

Yeah, Sac is unfortunately a very arid place. Not as bad as Phoenix but still bone dry for about half the year, and sometimes much of the other half as well.

[cityx]

Could this be the end of another long, hot, smoggy summer?
It seems brighter days are on the horizon. Forecast from The Weather Channel - see below.

Sept 12 -88/51
Sept 13- 82/51
Sept 14- 81/51
Sept 15- 81/51
Sept 16- 84/54
Sept 17- 87/55

Can't wait until October when we get into the 70's!

[CityGirl72]

GAWD! I wish I was there. It's suppose to be 80 here today (won't hit it til 5 pm) - and people are telling me to be prepared because it's going to be HOT...they are crazy here.

It's been 60s - sometimes 70s for the last two months - in a little bit we'll be back to 50s all year long again

[Kingsnkali]

Seems like people complain about the Sacramento summer heat a little too much.

Move out east and see what it's like during summer. Nashville AVERAGED nearly 100 degrees for high temperatures in August. And their lows are not like Sacramento's comfortable upper 50s and low 60s each night. Those people have lows in the 70s with steamy, sweaty, buggy humidity each night!

I've lived in many places and few have had the nice weather that we have here.

Go out east in the summer and compare it. You will come back and smile at our hot Valley afternoons. Piece of cake.

[cityx]

[quote=Kingsnkali;1467345]Seems like people complain about the Sacramento summer heat a little too much.
Move out east and see what it's like during summer.

I'm familiar with the heat back East. I spent many summers, too many, with my grandmother and uncle in Philadelphia. I know what its like to stay in a small apartment in Center City with a crappy air conditioner while it's 88 degrees with 85% humidity outside. The heat out West does not compare, obviously. Still, when it's 100 or worse, 105-110 degrees in Sacramento the heat is still VERY uncomfortable. When it gets that hot here the air quality is horrendous exacerbating the issue even further.

[CityGirl72]

I never had a problem with the air quailty when it was super hot - but I also moved to Sac from the Inland Empire and it was worse there.

But since I've moved to Seattle - I fly back often and notice the brown yuck that just sits over the Sac Valley - even I am shocked. I didn't know I was breathing that for 10 years

[cityx]

Yeah, I really never had to worry about smog too much in Seattle. There were a handful of days in the summer looking over at Queen Anne hill where it was a little beige and hazy- especially during mid morning but it would always seem to blow out quickly after 2pm. I also recall once or twice in the winter there were "burn bans" during still weather periods when the air wasn't moving too much. Overall, Seattle air is pristine and I really take that for granted now. I was visiting last month and although it was drizzly much of the time, the sun came out on my last day I was there. It was so vivid, clean, and crisp everywhere it was like looking at the world in High Definition. Haven't seen such clarity and beauty in a long time.
As far as Sac, I just don't feel physically well here much of the summertime and I really think the smog plays a much larger role than the heat. Its so hard for me to go running when the air is bad. That's what really frustrates me because I end up feeling like a big slob.
I could probably handle the heat better if the air was cleaner but hot temperatures and smog seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly.

[CityGirl72]

How have the Delta winds been this season? Those days usually smell great - probably blows out all that uck.