Do we underestimate and downplay how Great Sacramento weather really is? (Redwood City: pay, annual)

[Fearless Kid]

Been following this thread from the beginning. Moved here from VA Beach in 2004. I definitely like the weather much better hear than the East Coast (I lived in NY, Miami, and VA) because the air is drier and more tolerable in the peak of summer.

But...I really got tired of the bad air quality here (along with the heat). Just recently, from the last 2 weeks in April, up until May 25 or so, my allergies have never been worse. So bad that I couldn't exercise during that time because of chest congestion. Just took a 3 day get-away to Monterey, and the next morning all of my symptoms were gone. Just like that. Came back and had nasty crap coming out of my nose the next morning here. Had to get back on the meds to alleviate it. I thought it was something in the house but I had the same issue at work.

May 31 was 102; Monterey was 67. For the most part, I love Sacramento weather, but dang, the summers here are miserable. Summer in Sac is not something I look forward to. Obviously, the pros outweigh the cons since I still live here

[Chimérique]

That heat wave ended! Yes, full strong Delta Breeze this morning! All day yesterday felt way more comfortable and by the afternoon you could feel that steady wind/breeze and by evening it was even stronger. This morning full on low clouds feels like bay area weather now.

Notice how the heat wave was here when all the presidential candidates were here, our way of saying go away.

June 7, 6:00am - starting my bike ride.

Sacramento - 58F
Oakland - 58F
SF - 58F
Portland - 58F
Seattle - 60F

Phoenix - 79F - Yep it sucks there, never any relief, during our heat wave Sac still dropped to 65F in the morning, and PhX was still 10 degrees hotter than Sac was.
Vegas - 79F

[Fearless Kid]

Went last night to take my kid the the local park in Elk Grove. Weather was perfect. Nice breeze at around 8pm and was actually getting a bit too cool, but still nice. Went back home and opened up all the windows and used the window fans to draw in/push out air. I gotta get a whole-house fan.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by Fearless Kid

I gotta get a whole-house fan.

We love our whole-house fan, I recommend one for sure,

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by Fearless Kid

Been following this thread from the beginning. Moved here from VA Beach in 2004. I definitely like the weather much better hear than the East Coast (I lived in NY, Miami, and VA) because the air is drier and more tolerable in the peak of summer.

But...I really got tired of the bad air quality here (along with the heat). Just recently, from the last 2 weeks in April, up until May 25 or so, my allergies have never been worse. So bad that I couldn't exercise during that time because of chest congestion. Just took a 3 day get-away to Monterey, and the next morning all of my symptoms were gone. Just like that. Came back and had nasty crap coming out of my nose the next morning here. Had to get back on the meds to alleviate it. I thought it was something in the house but I had the same issue at work.

May 31 was 102; Monterey was 67. For the most part, I love Sacramento weather, but dang, the summers here are miserable. Summer in Sac is not something I look forward to. Obviously, the pros outweigh the cons since I still live here

Thanks for the thoughtful post, and I am happy you have been following the thread,

Some thoughts and responses to your post:

1. Allergies: see list, there are a lot of other cities that are far worse than Sac for allergies. My partner was born and raised in Sac and he never has had allergies. I get them, but it lasts less than a week, never really that bad. My partner had some colleagues go to North Carolina for work (1 month ago). They did NOT have allergies when in Sacramento but they DID HAVE them pretty bad while in North Carolina. When they returned to Sacramento the allergies went away. I'm not trying to minimize peoples experience with allergies but 65% of other cities in the nation have worse allergies according to the list.

2. Trips to the Coast: Consider this, there are not too many metros where you can travel less than an hour to another large metro and find very cool weather in the summer. But in Sacramento we can. Not in Florida, not in Texas, not in Arizona, nowhere in the South. For example, you can't escape the heat in Orlando, Tampa, or Miami - their coast is just as hot and humid, same with Austin and San Antonio, nowhere to go, hot & humid on the gulf and its too far way 4 hours away or more. Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas, nope you burn up in the Desert.

3. When we are having a heat wave, its great having cool weather surrounding us, either in the mountains or the coast. But if you look at it in a negative way, we know it's cooler nearby and "everybody" on the coast tells us how hot it is here. On the other hand, you have folks on the coast who love our warmer weather because a day at the pool, the waterpark, or on the river or lake is so much more fun in 90+ degree weather than a 67 degree day in the Bay Area.

Yesterday June 6, high temps:

Phoenix - 111F
Vegas - 103F

Portland - 91F
Sacramento - 91F

San Francisco - 62F - They never ever really have warm weather ever, one day a year perhaps.

[JohnS_15]

Originally Posted by Fearless Kid

Been following this thread from the beginning. Moved here from VA Beach in 2004. I definitely like the weather much better hear than the East Coast (I lived in NY, Miami, and VA) because the air is drier and more tolerable in the peak of summer.

But...I really got tired of the bad air quality here (along with the heat). Just recently, from the last 2 weeks in April, up until May 25 or so, my allergies have never been worse. So bad that I couldn't exercise during that time because of chest congestion. Just took a 3 day get-away to Monterey, and the next morning all of my symptoms were gone. Just like that. Came back and had nasty crap coming out of my nose the next morning here. Had to get back on the meds to alleviate it. I thought it was something in the house but I had the same issue at work.

May 31 was 102; Monterey was 67. For the most part, I love Sacramento weather, but dang, the summers here are miserable. Summer in Sac is not something I look forward to. Obviously, the pros outweigh the cons since I still live here

Yeah I agree with this. A fair assessment. The allergies and crappy air quality is definitely a draw back. I've been struggling with congestion from allergies too and never had a problem until I moved to Sacramento.


But this relief we are getting now feels amazing. It's definitely cyclical like this all summer - a few days of relentless heat and then the breeze builds back in and it's awesome for a few days.


The nights do cool down but not really until late - the whole house fan is great even on hot days - but you gotta wait until after midnight during those hot periods before you get that cooler air.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by JohnS_15

But this relief we are getting now feels amazing. It's definitely cyclical like this all summer - a few days of relentless heat and then the breeze builds back in and it's awesome for a few days.


The nights do cool down but not really until late - the whole house fan is great even on hot days - but you gotta wait until after midnight during those hot periods before you get that cooler air.

It depends on where you live in the Sac Metro, regarding when it cools down. Where I live, it is definitely comfortable by 6-8pm, most of the time.

On days like today and the forecast for the next 10 days its comfortable all day.

The purpose of this thread is to substantiate the comments we make about our weather, and sort of examine the psychology of how we view our weather. The "devil is in the details".

So in past posts one can see that the "days of relentless heat" are BY FAR LESS than the comfortable to awesome days.

Since I started this thread I pretty much always went back after a "heat wave" and pulled the numbers and related it to other places in the USA and in relationship to the summer days that our "comfortable to awesome".

For sure people will talk about the "heat" for weeks after it occurs. Even in the Bay Area, a rare 85F day in SF will stay on peoples mind for a month before they acknowledge it was really only one day. Same with Sac, a 5 day heat wave, equates to 60 days in their minds. I think its human nature, we tend to remember the uncomfortable days and ignore the comfortable days.

[ABrandNewWorld]

I'll take Sacramento over any Bay Area city (except for perhaps the far East Bay and South Bay) but those nights in the 50s are too cold for "summer". I like balmy nights (lows 68-72) paired with daytime highs in the 80s.

Coastal Southern California did a great job of that last summer but this summer looks (thanks to the coming La Nina) like it could be too cold for "summer" on our coast (ugly marine layer sticking around all day).

Am I the only one on here who likes a lil bit of humidity and warm rain at times rather than the relentless cold marine layer at the coast and hot and dry as a bone inland summers of California? Also Sacramento winters are way too foggy and have that damp chill as a trade off of enjoying pool weather all summer.

I think Palm Springs has a better climate than Sacramento, personally. I like the fact that the nights stay warm (even if the days are a tad too hot) and the monsoons at least have a chance of bringing thunderstorms and warm rain a few times each summer. Also their winters are downright pleasant with most days having highs above 70.

[JohnS_15]

Originally Posted by ABrandNewWorld

I'll take Sacramento over any Bay Area city (except for perhaps the far East Bay and South Bay) but those nights in the 50s are too cold for "summer". I like balmy nights (lows 68-72) paired with daytime highs in the 80s.

Coastal Southern California did a great job of that last summer but this summer looks (thanks to the coming La Nina) like it could be too cold for "summer" on our coast (ugly marine layer sticking around all day).

Am I the only one on here who likes a lil bit of humidity and warm rain at times rather than the relentless cold marine layer at the coast and hot and dry as a bone inland summers of California? Also Sacramento winters are way too foggy and have that damp chill as a trade off of enjoying pool weather all summer.

I think Palm Springs has a better climate than Sacramento, personally. I like the fact that the nights stay warm (even if the days are a tad too hot) and the monsoons at least have a chance of bringing thunderstorms and warm rain a few times each summer. Also their winters are downright pleasant with most days having highs above 70.

In the summer the nights stay pretty warm where I live in Sacramento until really late. During a typical hot pattern like we had last week the forecast will say high of 100F and low of 65F. I think it reaches peak heat (so 100F) at about 4pm - and then it's still really warm (sometimes uncomfortably so) outside at like 7/8 pm (you can definitely still comfortably be BBQing outside in shorts and flipflops). During that hot week I'd put the whole house fan on at like 1am and the house would cool down beautifully and feel fresh. Then it hits the low (so 65F) at like 4am.


I agree it's tough to beat coastal southern California for great all year weather. The gloomy starts to summer are nice if you live there year round. If you are visiting then it kinda sucks.


I don't like places you have to run A/C all night long.

[Adamson865]

Originally Posted by ABrandNewWorld

I think Palm Springs has a better climate than Sacramento, personally. I like the fact that the nights stay warm (even if the days are a tad too hot) and the monsoons at least have a chance of bringing thunderstorms and warm rain a few times each summer. Also their winters are downright pleasant with most days having highs above 70.

A tad too hot? It was 117 last Saturday! There's hot and then there's heat which immobilizes. It didn't dip below 100 until nearly 11pm.

As for the monsoons - the desert here is on the far western edge of what is typically an Arizona phenomenon. If the monsoon bubble moves west and we get some moisture here, it's usually just clouds and some humidity (difficult to cope with when it's 112 out). Very little rain. Remember, Palm Springs runs only about 3-4" of rain a year, mostly during one week in either December or January. There hasn't been a thunderstorm yet in the years I've been here.