Do we underestimate and downplay how Great Sacramento weather really is? (San Diego: backyards, downtown)

[sav858]

Good thing Austin actually gets some respite from the sun with regular clouds it gets during the summer unlike Sac.

[WizardOfRadical]

Originally Posted by sav858

Good thing Austin actually gets some respite from the sun with regular clouds it gets during the summer unlike Sac.

Not really. The gulf makes Austin insanely humid. It could be 84 degrees and totally cloudy, and it feels awful.

[Chimérique]

August 9, 2017, 8:00pm

Heat Index:

Phoenix - 104F
Las Vegas - 104F
Austin - 95F
Fresno - 91F
Portland - 89F
Seattle - 80F
Sacramento - 78F, Sacramento is cooler than Seattle and Portland, in August? Yep, sometimes,
San Francisco - 56F (Wind chill), burr in August, yep, typical, but more on this later.

[Chimérique]

So unlike Austin, Texas, you can't escape any type of heat unless you drive 500 miles, if you drive to the Gulf which is Hella Far, the heat and humidity is even worse.

In Sacramento, you can go just 1/2 hour, west or east and it's 10 degrees cooler or more.

A few weekends back when it was in the high 90's in Sacramento we spent the whole day in 60-62 degree weather in San Francisco. It was a nice change, cloudy, foggy, sweaters, long pants, no sun, but i wouldn't want to live there.....a day trip is all that is needed. The drive back was only 1hr, 10mins, downtown SF to downtown Sac.

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

So unlike Austin, Texas, you can't escape any type of heat unless you drive 500 miles, if you drive to the Gulf which is Hella Far, the heat and humidity is even worse.

In Sacramento, you can go just 1/2 hour, west or east and it's 10 degrees cooler or more.

A few weekends back when it was in the high 90's in Sacramento we spent the whole day in 60-62 degree weather in San Francisco. It was a nice change, cloudy, foggy, sweaters, long pants, no sun, but i wouldn't want to live there.....a day trip is all that is needed. The drive back was only 1hr, 10mins, downtown SF to downtown Sac.

Great Point! And this applies pretty much anywhere in California. Even in Fresno, you could go into the Sierra Nevada during the summer to escape triple digits and get into seventies and eighties. But Sacramento is unique in that it is close to so many different beautiful places with so many different microclimates. You can get up to Lake Tahoe in the summer to enjoy voting in golfing along with afternoon thunderstorms, you could pop over in the mountains all together and get into the high desert of Nevada, you can go to the fog and chill of San Francisco, or you could enjoy the mild Sunshine of marin County's quaint towns. I remember when we used to live in Emeryville, it would be a lot funnier than in San Francisco but still too chilly in the evenings for my taste. What would we do during the summer to escape the cold? Drive through the tunnel 20 minutes east to Walnut Creek so we could hang out in shorts and t-shirts. Now that I live in San Diego, we decided to move farther Inland away from the foggy Coast which I would say has nicer weather 90% of the time, and on those few days in the Summer where it gets into the nineties near us, we can head to the coast to cool off. Or we can drive less than one hour and be above 6000 ft in the local mountains where we could be in seventies and under the Pine Forest. Even if you are in Palm Springs, which is one of the hottest desert cities on Earth, you could take the tram up to Mount San Jacinto to over 10,000 feet and within 15 minutes be 40 degrees cooler.

Because of California's unique topography, we are truly blessed to enjoy almost any type of scenery or weather Within a short distance.

I can't believe how hot the Pacific Northwest is at the moment! Just keep in mind that even those evening temperatures are far above the average high temperatures, so it takes quite a heatwave to be hotter than Sacramento. Although by 6 a.m., all bets are off.

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical

Not really. The gulf makes Austin insanely humid. It could be 84 degrees and totally cloudy, and it feels awful.

This is why even heat indices are not indicative of comfortability, only temperature. At 84 degrees and high humidity, I would say it probably can't feel hotter than 90, but even if it were a hundred degrees in Sacramento with a heat index of 100 degrees in Sacramento and a heat index of 95, so that Sacramento's real feel temperature were actually higher, it would still feel less comfortable with the humidity at the lower temperature in Austin. Yes, it could feel "hotter" in Sacramento, but hotter might still be more "comfortable" when it's dry.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

So unlike Austin, Texas, you can't escape any type of heat unless you drive 500 miles, if you drive to the Gulf which is Hella Far, the heat and humidity is even worse.

In Sacramento, you can go just 1/2 hour, west or east and it's 10 degrees cooler or more.

A few weekends back when it was in the high 90's in Sacramento we spent the whole day in 60-62 degree weather in San Francisco. It was a nice change, cloudy, foggy, sweaters, long pants, no sun, but i wouldn't want to live there.....a day trip is all that is needed. The drive back was only 1hr, 10mins, downtown SF to downtown Sac.

At least you can actually swim in the ocean though. You have to practically drive 500 miles from Sac to find ocean temperatures that are actually swimmable without a wet suit.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by tstieber

This is why even heat indices are not indicative of comfortability, only temperature. At 84 degrees and high humidity, I would say it probably can't feel hotter than 90, but even if it were a hundred degrees in Sacramento with a heat index of 100 degrees in Sacramento and a heat index of 95, so that Sacramento's real feel temperature were actually higher, it would still feel less comfortable with the humidity at the lower temperature in Austin. Yes, it could feel "hotter" in Sacramento, but hotter might still be more "comfortable" when it's dry.

When you factor in the sun Sac actually feels hotter than the actual temp and the heat index.

[WizardOfRadical]

Originally Posted by tstieber

This is why even heat indices are not indicative of comfortability, only temperature. At 84 degrees and high humidity, I would say it probably can't feel hotter than 90, but even if it were a hundred degrees in Sacramento with a heat index of 100 degrees in Sacramento and a heat index of 95, so that Sacramento's real feel temperature were actually higher, it would still feel less comfortable with the humidity at the lower temperature in Austin. Yes, it could feel "hotter" in Sacramento, but hotter might still be more "comfortable" when it's dry.

Exacrly, trying to claim Austin is more comfortable because of clouds is the stupidest thing I have heard all week. And I have spent this whole week working a gang murder trial, so I have heard a lot of dumn stuff this week, lol.

[WizardOfRadical]

Only people from beta manlet metros like Seattle or the Bay would complain about sunshine.

There is a reason people in SoCal call it June gloom. Because cloudy weather sucks and is depressing.

The sun doesn't have some magical power that makes it stronger in Sac. The heat is a result of mountains surrounding the metro, not excessive sunshine. ROFL.