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

[Chimérique]

Sacramento - September 2022

How many days were in the:
Low Temps
50's - 18 days
60's - 7 days
70's - 5 days

How many days were in the:
High Temps
70's - 7 days
80's - 8 days
90's - 6 days
100's - 6 days (Heat Index minus 4 days)
110's - 3 days (Heat Index minus 1 day)

Despite a record breaking heat wave, the month was balanced by 15 days, half the month, of well BELOW average highs temps.

The most remarkable observation was that we had 5 days where the temp did not drop below 70F. Still yet, despite an unusually high heat wave, we still dropped on average 30-40 degrees each day.

Two more remarkable observations is we had 7 days, one week, of high temps in the 70's. Also, it rained 3 days, with an average of 0.67 inches in the same month we had the record breaking heat.

[Chimérique]

Early Evening, Oct 3, 2022

Las Vegas 90F

Portland 80F
Sacramento 79F

Monterey 68F
Carmel-by-the-Sea 63F

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by mayonnaiseandjelly

The is thread takes some odd amount of obsession.

It does beat out almost all of the Central Valley, so that’s great, but other than that? What’s the point lol

Sacramento weather "beats out" more the 3/4 of the entire United States, not just the Central Valley.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by mayonnaiseandjelly

The Central Valley beats out the rest of the us. Sac is marginally better than the rest of cv

Sacramento proper is significantly, and noticeable better than the rest of the CV.

Sacramento is NOT bone dry like Bakersfield or Fresno, nor nearly has hot over the course of the summer and year, minus a record breaking day. More importantly, Sacramento Cools dramatically and consistently giving you truly COOL, not just comfortable summer daytime mornings and nights, but COOL Temps in the upper 50's, low 60's, consistently, no matter how hot it may get latter that summer day. No place else in the CV has this except for Stockton.

Sacramento proper has by far less winter fog than the rest of the CV as well. Nearly zero winter fog in the last 10 years.

By the way, all obsessions are "a bit odd", and we all have some, otherwise known has habitats, but what I'm doing is simply observational, not an obsession, you can't just ignore the weather...its in your face, literally.

[Chimérique]

One of the biggest differences between the Inland Empire and Sacramento is air quality. The IE has twice as many bad air days as Sacramento.

Alot of people like seasonal change and Sacramento definitely has more of a winter. Also, Sacramento autumns are by far more colorful because we have way more trees.

Sacramento winters are much greener and our nearby Sierra mountains receive by far more snow consistently so much more that we provide a huge amount of water for SoCal. SoCal provides zero water for the rest of the state. The Sierras near Sacramento average 300-500 inches of snow, SoCal mountains near the IE average only 60 inches on a good year.

Less than 2 hours away from Sacramento there are world class Colorado style ski resorts none to be had near the IE that are comparable (Bear V gets so little snow and is so small doesn't really count). The other thing that s*cks about SoCal mountains is there is no decent amount of snow a lower elevations (7,500 and below). The dusting of snow at the peaks is nice to look at but that is about it. Near Sacramento we have consistently deeper snow as low as 4,000-5,000 feet, which means you can snow ski, snow shoe, hike, and have winter recreation at lower elevations, easier to get to, and easier on the lungs and for older and disabled folks.

[mixxalot]

Hot today over 90F this week will be good to see cooler temps soon.

[Chimérique]

Sacramento -
Highs in the mid to upper 80's, but majority of the daylight hours are in the 70's.
Late afternoons, evenings, and night are perfect. Nice and Cool in the early mornings.

Noonish, Oct 12, 2022

Santa Cruz 61F Cloudy
Monterey 60F Cloudy
Pismo Beach 59F Mostly Cloudy

Portland 68F

Riverside 72F Haze Bad Air
San Bernardino 74F Haze Bad Air

Sacramento 75F Sunny Good Air

Fresno 81F
Las Vegas 85F
Phoenix 90F

[tstieber]

I can definitely see your point about warmer and drier winters in IE, although Sacramento, compared to most of the country, is still a cakewalk in winter. Our friends who moved there a couple years ago don't really mention the winter as much as the summer, which is far too hot for them. For me, I think it would be too hot as well, as is inland empire. Temecula might be an exception because it has less smog than, for example, riverside, the humidity is nice and low, it cools down beautifully at night, you've got the wine country right there, and winters actually get some downright cold nights. It even snowed there about 7 years ago. And as you mentioned, proximity to the desert, big bear, idlewild, San diego, disneyland, beaches, it's all under an hour.

I think the premise of this thread has always been that Sacramento gets overlooked as a place with overall fantastic weather. For 3 months of the year, it's actually the statistically sunniest place on Earth! And while it is somewhat more rainy than inland empire, it still averages less than 20 inches of rain per year, which is very little compared to most of the country. So by no means is it a wet climate. It is squarely Mediterranean. Everything is relative. You could say inland empire is wet compared to Palm springs. There's always somewhere more wet or less wet, but Sacramento is generally not what one would consider a wet climate by definition.

All that being said, I don't think Sacramento has ever had a reputation for not having good weather, I just think it's somewhat ignored. And I don't necessarily think that's because of the weather but simply because it's a smaller metro area that doesn't have the really big employers. For me, it's always been a hidden gem in california.

Originally Posted by mayonnaiseandjelly

That’s a really weird argument when we are talking about Sacramento weather. You start rambling about comparing… nearby amenities? Dude the beach, la, oc, Disneyland, a
Palm springs, big bear etc are all 50 minutes from central IE. The two regions are worlds apart in terms of location.

Idk what the he’ll you’re bringing water about…the nearby mountains feed ca. so, thanks Sacramento? Lol

Anyway, it’s funny how you can boast about mild winters that sac has and then turn around and say people enjoy the seasonal change in Sacramento. I grew up in the Central Valley, winters in the CV are not enjoyable.

70 degree high and 45 degree low beats 54/40 up and down and twice on Sunday. There’s a reason why people love SoCa weather, and that’s largely because of the winters, which IE has nearly identical winters as LA.

[tstieber]

This is probably the weirdest October I've ever seen in california, with the exception of the one year about 15 years ago where it was pouring rain for a day or two. The Marine layer is usually minimal or absent in the fall, but it's been the heaviest of the entire year. Here in San diego, we have not had a single Santa Ana event, and instead, we have not really seen the Sun at the coast in weeks, and only sporadically here inland. Lately, it's been completely overcast all day, and a little bit of precip squeezing out of the fog here and there. Kind of like a bad June gloom or May gray, except they're calling it overcast October this time. And although I normally love the typically warm, dry California fall weather, I'm really enjoying the change of pace because it feels like a more traditional fall.

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Sacramento -
Highs in the mid to upper 80's, but majority of the daylight hours are in the 70's.
Late afternoons, evenings, and night are perfect. Nice and Cool in the early mornings.

Noonish, Oct 12, 2022

Santa Cruz 61F Cloudy
Monterey 60F Cloudy
Pismo Beach 59F Mostly Cloudy

Portland 68F

Riverside 72F Haze Bad Air
San Bernardino 74F Haze Bad Air

Sacramento 75F Sunny Good Air

Fresno 81F
Las Vegas 85F
Phoenix 90F

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by tstieber

This is probably the weirdest October I've ever seen in california, with the exception of the one year about 15 years ago where it was pouring rain for a day or two. The Marine layer is usually minimal or absent in the fall, but it's been the heaviest of the entire year. Here in San diego, we have not had a single Santa Ana event, and instead, we have not really seen the Sun at the coast in weeks, and only sporadically here inland. Lately, it's been completely overcast all day, and a little bit of precip squeezing out of the fog here and there. Kind of like a bad June gloom or May gray, except they're calling it overcast October this time. And although I normally love the typically warm, dry California fall weather, I'm really enjoying the change of pace because it feels like a more traditional fall.

Interesting about the marine layer in the Southland. I'll be in Santa Barbara, again, in early November, I'm hoping for dry, sunny, no marine layer, Fingers crossed.

I've spent a lot of time on the Central Coast in Sept and Oct; it's been a mixed bag, some days mostly fog and marine layer most of the day, other days it burned-off or partially burned-off as early as 10am or as late as 2pm. Monterey is almost always foggy or marine layer, but we lucked-out for 3 days of sunny! Way down in Pismo Beach area it was more foggier than the Monterey Bay Area but there was some sun too. For 7 days it was half marine layer half sun. Morrow Bay almost always foggy.

I love the Central Coast because it so "sparsely populated" relatively speaking with the rest of the South Coast and SF Bay Area.

Back in Sac, weather is great, but I' missing the Central Coast

Noonish 12:30pm - Sept 14, 2022

Sacramento 75F

Central Coast:
Santa Cruz 58F
Monterey 55F
Cambria 59F
Cuyucos Beach 58F
San Luis Obispo 63F
Morro Bay 56F
Pismo Beach 60F
Grover Beach 59F
Oceano Dunes 60F