Does the Bay Area have a mediteranean or Pac NW Climte? (San Diego: hotel, shop)

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

SF weather is unique. How do you incorporate the fog factor in Mediterrenean weather? Yes, it does not rain in SF in summer but it stays overcast and foggy most of the time. In fact sometimes the fog gets so thick it becomes drizzly and the streets get wet just like it would in light rain. From your definition, people might get the very misleading notion that SF is sunny when in does not rain but that is not the case at all. In fact the most irritating fact about SF weather is that it is barely ever sunny regardless of whether its raining or not.

Andy, the thread isn't about SF. You're off-topic. Surprise, surprise.

[tstieber]

check out the Wikipedia entry discussing marine layer. Mediterranean climates are defined by rainfall patterns,not by fog. in fact, the Northern California marine layer is most common among certain Mediterranean climates, even if not along the Mediterranean Sea itself. You see the same phenomenon in Chile, New Zealand, Cape Town, and the Western Sahara coastline.the English Channel has completely different cloud formations and year round rainfall. you may also note how similar Bay Area weather is too Mediterranean cities in the winter time. Barcelona, Athens, Istanbul, Jerusalem all have very similar winter temperatures and rainfall. Of course, they are all on the same latitude. The English Channel is more on a latitude with Seattle and has more similar weather.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by tstieber

check out the Wikipedia entry discussing marine layer. Mediterranean climates are defined by rainfall patterns,not by fog. in fact, the Northern California marine layer is most common among certain Mediterranean climates, even if not along the Mediterranean Sea itself. You see the same phenomenon in Chile, New Zealand, Cape Town, and the Western Sahara coastline.the English Channel has completely different cloud formations and year round rainfall. you may also note how similar Bay Area weather is too Mediterranean cities in the winter time. Barcelona, Athens, Istanbul, Jerusalem all have very similar winter temperatures and rainfall. Of course, they are all on the same latitude. The English Channel is more on a latitude with Seattle and has more similar weather.

Also Portugal and the NW corner of Spain (I'd say the actual Atlantic Coast of Iberia is roughly similar to the Monterey to the OR border stretch).

[Matadora]

Bay Area weather is very nice depending on where you live and what you like.

The thing that was the most interesting to me after moving here was the various micro-climates. It could be sunny and in the 70's in my neighborhood and if I drive 18 miles North the temps would drop anywhere from 10-15 degrees and it could be foggy or overcast.

I don't think it is easy to generalize the entire Bay Area weather since it is so varied.

[BodegaHead]

Moist Mid-latitude Climates with Mild Winters - C Climate Type

According to this link, the coast & SF would be classified as 'coastal Mediterranean' & inland areas as 'interior Mediterranean'. But like everything else its always up for debate.

I feel like inland is Mediterranean up to Ukiah or so & the coast in SoCal from Santa Barbara south is Mediterranean. The NorCal coast to me is a unique bastardized climate, Mediterranean when its in a good mood & Maritime when its in a bad mood.makes sense since it is between the Maritime NW & the hot dry Mediterranean areas of SoCal & interior NorCal.

[EclecticEars]

My general breakdown:

- Peninsula, South Bay, Inner East Bay, Inland North Marin: Mediterranean
- Outer East Bay, Napa, Inland Sonoma, Solano: Mediterranean/Semi-Arid* hybrid (but mostly Mediterranean)
- San Francisco, pretty much all Pacific coastal communities: Mediterranean/Pacific Northwest hybrid

* Semi-arid = a little more arid than typical California Mediterranean climates because of generally less fog.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by EclecticEars

- San Francisco, pretty much all Pacific coastal communities: Mediterranean/Pacific Northwest hybrid

However look at native vegetation in such areas. Coastal sage scrub, chaparral, oak savannah, oak scrub. It doesn't get more Mediterranean than that.

[Dave Coe]

This picture hear looks very mediteranean.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/micswo...-fEPHWW-6dp9m1

[Dave Coe]

Originally Posted by EclecticEars

My general breakdown:

- Peninsula, South Bay, Inner East Bay, Inland North Marin: Mediterranean
- Outer East Bay, Napa, Inland Sonoma, Solano: Mediterranean/Semi-Arid* hybrid (but mostly Mediterranean)
- San Francisco, pretty much all Pacific coastal communities: Mediterranean/Pacific Northwest hybrid

* Semi-arid = a little more arid than typical California Mediterranean climates because of generally less fog.

I read somewhere that Napa has a climate similar to Rome and Walnut Creek to Jerusalem. SF is probably closer to The Atlantic Coast of Spain, Maybe Lisbon but with cooler summers. It has a very unique climate.

[CBB_bear]

A lot of microclimates in the bay area, so it's hard to generalize.