Do we underestimate and downplay how Great Sacramento weather really is? (records, based)

[JohnS_15]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Did you know this will be the 4th consecutive season of normal to above normal rain in most of California, especially NorCal. In fact, since the drought broke 4 years ago, we've had above normal rain every year since, and at least 2 of those years its been 150 % or more of normal. The Sierra's also have had 4 years of record breaking snow depth accumulations.

Yet we still talk of the drought, and the climate change folks will never let us forget it.

The drought lasted 3 years, some climate change folks say it lasted 5 years.

Normally, Sacramento averages 20 inches/yr.

We averaged 15 inches per yr. during the 3 years of drought.

The last 3 years we averaged 27 inches per year.

So over the last 6 years we have averaged 21 inches per year.....above normal....as if the drought never happened.

Go talk to the Australians about drought and climate change and fire. Nothing is guaranteed - especially in the face of a rapidly changing global climate. We are dealing with extremes in the modern world. If we are getting atmospheric rivers and bombogenesis or whatever new term the weather media cooks up … someone else is getting screwed the other way with very dry conditions. It's always been this way to a certain extent it's just more extreme now.

[Chimérique]

Omg, winter fog came back for a day. This morning winter fog was present in Sacramento creating a ceiling of clouds 500-1500 feet above the city, making it look like an overcast day. Visibility was good as the fog quickly rises to above 500 feet, no fog on the ground.

It started to break apart around 10:30am, by noon the sun was out with big billowing clouds- beautiful! Many people don’t know it’s just fog. It looks like it’s part of a full weather system, or a rain storm, but it’s not. It should be completely gone by 2pm.

[SusVelo]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

This thread is about Sacramento weather and how it compares with other places.

I'm not making any judgements about climate change, nor any political comments.

Keep in mind, this years rainy season just begun; it could turn out to be a below normal year and could even mean the beginning of a series of below normal years.

If 2 or more below normal years occur, then we are officially in a drought again. Only time will tell.

Rain to date: 19/20 Season:

Redding 7.29 inches
Sacramento 3.67 inches
Riverside 2.70 inches

Perhaps you should follow your own advice and avoid having to lie about it.

"Yet we still talk of the drought, and the climate change folks will never let us forget it. "

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by dontbelievehim

Speaking of climate change
Check this picture out, chim. I'm sure you're going to love it

Yes, very interesting, map. Those temperature increases could explain the extreme decrease in winter fog in Sacramento.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Omg, winter fog came back for a day. This morning winter fog was present in Sacramento creating a ceiling of clouds 500-1500 feet above the city, making it look like an overcast day. Visibility was good as the fog quickly rises to above 500 feet, no fog on the ground.

It started to break apart around 10:30am, by noon the sun was out with big billowing clouds- beautiful! Many people don’t know it’s just fog. It looks like it’s part of a full weather system, or a rain storm, but it’s not. It should be completely gone by 2pm.

Yep, the fog was completely gone by 1:30 pm; it was bright, clear and Sunny for the rest of the day.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by simply1

Perhaps you should follow your own advice and avoid having to lie about it.

Wow, someone from Washington state is reading my thread, about Sacramento's weather of all things, cool.

Like I said, I'm not making any judgements about climate change, nor any political comments, I think folks are reading too much into that comment.

It wasn't meant as a bash on climate change. Climates change, no doubt about that.

Back to Sacramento weather's, latest stats, and how it compares with other places:

Dec 9, 2019 - Rain accumulation to date.

San Diego 4.12 inches!! - It is very very unusual for San Diego to have more rain than Sacramento, let's see how long this lasts.

Sacramento 4.05 inches

Fresno 2.47 inches

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by JohnS_15

Go talk to the Australians about drought and climate change and fire. Nothing is guaranteed - especially in the face of a rapidly changing global climate. We are dealing with extremes in the modern world. If we are getting atmospheric rivers and bombogenesis or whatever new term the weather media cooks up … someone else is getting screwed the other way with very dry conditions. It's always been this way to a certain extent it's just more extreme now.

I love Australia. Did you know, Adelaide, Australia has the exact same climate as Sacramento. There are not very many places around the globe that have the exact same climate as Sacramento.

"Atmospheric rivers", I love that term, and the "Pineapple Express". Do you remember Sacramento's Pineapple Express from 1986, I think the American River was just inches from spilling over into River Park and Sac State. Have you ever read about Sacramento's catastrophic flooding in the mid 1800's, I hope we don't experience anything like that in our lifetimes.

From KCRA News Weather:
"The wettest rain season on record happened during the 1982-1983 season, in which Sacramento tallied 36.57 inches of precipitation". We came close to breaking that record last year.

"And after several years of dry winters, the Capitol City is nowhere near the driest rain season on record -- just 6.71 inches of precipitation fell during the 1976-1977 season". Wow, I had no idea it was that dry. 1977-78 was also a very dry year. I think the driest year of our latest drought (12 to 15 inches) was at least double the 1976-77 drought year.

So in the mid 1970's to the early 1980's in just 6 years, Sacramento had the driest and wettest seasons on record.

Seems very similar to the last 6 years, 2013-2019. (Drought 2013-2016) (Above normal 2016-2019)

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

I love Australia. Did you know, Adelaide, Australia has the exact same climate as Sacramento. There are not very many places around the globe that have the exact same climate as Sacramento.

"And after several years of dry winters, the Capitol City is nowhere near the driest rain season on record -- just 6.71 inches of precipitation fell during the 1976-1977 season". Wow, I had no idea it was that dry. 1977-78 was also a very dry year. I think the driest year of our latest drought (12 to 15 inches) was at least double the 1976-77 drought year.

So in the mid 1970's to the early 1980's in just 6 years, Sacramento had the driest and wettest seasons on record.

Seems very similar to the last 6 years, 2013-2019. (Drought 2013-2016) (Above normal 2016-2019)

I did know that Adelaide had the same climate as Sacramento, because my parents used to travel there for work in the 80s a couple of times when it was winter in CA, and they said everything looked exactly like the inland East Bay in summer -- same vegetation and climate. It was uncanny.

Did you also know that Jerusalem and Walnut Creek (and by extension, Sacramento to some extent) have almost the exact same monthly high temperatures AND rainfall distribution? Also very uncanny to be so far away and so similar. The main difference being that Jerusalem has milder summer lows but also is much more prone to occasional snowfall due to its higher elevation (the last Bay Area snowfall at low elevations having been 1976, and even then, I don't think it fell in WC). But very close!

With regards to the dried year on record, remember that it's measured by rainy 'season' and not by calendar year, but actually, San Francisco had its driest CALENDAR year in 2013 with, I believe (but don't quote me), only about 3.25" of rain from Jan-Dec. Each rainy season, however, ended up significantly higher (it just didn't fall during those 12 consecutive months). That was actually less than Palm Springs during the same period!

Weather is never dull!

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Wow, someone from Washington state is reading my thread, about Sacramento's weather of all things, cool.

Like I said, I'm not making any judgements about climate change, nor any political comments, I think folks are reading too much into that comment.

It wasn't meant as a bash on climate change. Climates change, no doubt about that.

Back to Sacramento weather's, latest stats, and how it compares with other places:

Dec 9, 2019 - Rain accumulation to date.

San Diego 4.12 inches!! - It is very very unusual for San Diego to have more rain than Sacramento, let's see how long this lasts.

Sacramento 4.05 inches

Fresno 2.47 inches

AND keep in mind that San Diego International Airport is the driest reporting station in the region, so most areas had even more than this! (Mountains had insane amounts, but those are outliers IMO). However, for Ramona, check this out!

SINCE OCT 1 5.96
SINCE JAN 1 21.36

You had previously mentioned that NorCal in particular had seen above average rainfall during the last several years, but with the exception of 2017-2018, which was a bust in SoCal, SoCal actually had a greater percentage deviation from average rainfall in most of those years. So even though most areas (not all!) still had less total rainfall than Sacramento, the amounts that did fall were "more" above average for SoCal than for NorCal. This year has certainly been unusual, as SD has had more rain than Seattle this season!

The benefit of this early SoCal rain is that everything is prematurely greened up to replace all the dead grasses. We usually don't see that until late January when the storms start kicking in.

As for SoCal rain being an 'event,' it really depends on the year. Some years get almost no rain, while others get a lot. We can get real rainy seasons sometimes and then feel like desert other years. So it fluctuates a lot more down here. That means it can sometimes feel like NorCal and other times like Baja. It's a variety that suits me well, because I like a bit of both and really need a little warmth in between the cool spells -- but I also don't want to live without my rain storms and chill either. Right now, we're over the cooler and damper weather and are hoping to break 70f inland for a couple of days starting tomorrow. Even if we can sit by the pool for a few hours for a couple of days, it'll be a little staycation.

One thing that's unusually spectacular this year is the fall color on the deciduous trees in our neighborhood. We literally have hundreds of trees in our development with golds, reds, and oranges, and there are quite a few in Poway as well, though not as pervasive as in our neighborhood. It actually feels like fall in a way that urban SD, with its palms and eucalyptus, doesn't. We're quite enjoying our little microcosm.

[ryanthegoldengod]

Originally Posted by tstieber

AND keep in mind that San Diego International Airport is the driest reporting station in the region, so most areas had even more than this! (Mountains had insane amounts, but those are outliers IMO). However, for Ramona, check this out!

SINCE OCT 1 5.96
SINCE JAN 1 21.36

You had previously mentioned that NorCal in particular had seen above average rainfall during the last several years, but with the exception of 2017-2018, which was a bust in SoCal, SoCal actually had a greater percentage deviation from average rainfall in most of those years. So even though most areas (not all!) still had less total rainfall than Sacramento, the amounts that did fall were "more" above average for SoCal than for NorCal. This year has certainly been unusual, as SD has had more rain than Seattle this season!

The benefit of this early SoCal rain is that everything is prematurely greened up to replace all the dead grasses. We usually don't see that until late January when the storms start kicking in.

As for SoCal rain being an 'event,' it really depends on the year. Some years get almost no rain, while others get a lot. We can get real rainy seasons sometimes and then feel like desert other years. So it fluctuates a lot more down here. That means it can sometimes feel like NorCal and other times like Baja. It's a variety that suits me well, because I like a bit of both and really need a little warmth in between the cool spells -- but I also don't want to live without my rain storms and chill either. Right now, we're over the cooler and damper weather and are hoping to break 70f inland for a couple of days starting tomorrow. Even if we can sit by the pool for a few hours for a couple of days, it'll be a little staycation.

One thing that's unusually spectacular this year is the fall color on the deciduous trees in our neighborhood. We literally have hundreds of trees in our development with golds, reds, and oranges, and there are quite a few in Poway as well, though not as pervasive as in our neighborhood. It actually feels like fall in a way that urban SD, with its palms and eucalyptus, doesn't. We're quite enjoying our little microcosm.

When do those leaves fall of the trees? In New England we're so well known for our foliage but our fall foliage is pretty much gone by early to mid November. Our "fall" is really just October.