Sad in Seattle...San Francisco or San Diego?? (San Jose, Oakland: condo, neighborhood)

[ilovesoup]

Originally Posted by LVinWA

How much better IS the weather in SF compared to Seattle, though? Are there any statistics on the amount of sunny days per year?

I too am in Seattle and am contemplating between SF and SD.

I dug up some info on weather averages if it helps.
Seattle only averages 58 sunny days a year, whereas San Francisco boasts an average of 265 sunny days a year. As for the rest of Seattle's days, we average 226 cloudy days (4th most in the U.S.) and 81 partly cloudy days. Of all those days, we get 155 days of rain a year.

The weather is just killing me here in Seattle, I take extra vitamin D and have a light box which helps but it seems quite ridiculous!

Good Luck!

[lobster5757]

Do not move to San Diego. The weather is good but it is very expensive, dirty and there are many restaurants with bad food. Lived here 10 years, moving next week. Try Fairfield, is much warmer, more sun and about an hour north east of San Francisco. Lived by that area for a while. Laid back and less expensive than some of the bay area. Again, San Diego is a mess!

[LVinWA]

Originally Posted by ilovesoup

I dug up some info on weather averages if it helps.
Seattle only averages 58 sunny days a year, whereas San Francisco boasts an average of 265 sunny days a year. As for the rest of Seattle's days, we average 226 cloudy days (4th most in the U.S.) and 81 partly cloudy days. Of all those days, we get 155 days of rain a year.

The weather is just killing me here in Seattle, I take extra vitamin D and have a light box which helps but it seems quite ridiculous!

Good Luck!

265 days seem plentiful, however a majority of the pictures in the picture thread show an abundance of fog and generally grey/muted skies.

Could you link me to the source? And I'm with you, the need for light boxes is ridiculous.

[vdy1985]

Originally Posted by LVinWA

265 days seem plentiful, however a majority of the pictures in the picture thread show an abundance of fog and generally grey/muted skies.

Could you link me to the source? And I'm with you, the need for light boxes is ridiculous.

SF weather is said to be super foggy and chilly by CA people. If you are from Seattle, you will be more than happy with the amount of sun SF sees. I lived a summer in SF, and yeah it would be foggy in the morning, but the fog would roll out by late morning and roll back in during the evening. It was actually quite beautiful to see. Also it was interesting because I was going to school in Berkeley, so it would be foggy in SF in the morning but when I took the BART and got down in Berkeley it would be sunny (or the fog would burn off way earlier).

[vdy1985]

Originally Posted by LVinWA

265 days seem plentiful, however a majority of the pictures in the picture thread show an abundance of fog and generally grey/muted skies.

Could you link me to the source? And I'm with you, the need for light boxes is ridiculous.

How many inches of rain does seattle get? I have a feeling SF doens't even get 50% of the rain seattle gets. So it would make sense that there are less cloudy drizzly days.

[uptown_urbanist]

What do you mean by "culture?"

I love San Francisco, but based on what you want it sounds like San Diego might be the better option for you. There are some great laid back beach towns north of San Diego (some more laid back than others); Encinitas is pretty walkable with a nice sense of community, has a nice downtown core, is by the beach, has great weather, and is on the commuter train line for easy access to the city itself. (and as far as culture meaning museums and the like, San Diego is pretty fabulous on that front, too).

If you choose SF then look into the microclimates of the various neighborhoods and cities; some areas are going to be far more sunny than others.

[rah]

^this is what many people fail to realize, SF and the Bay Area as a whole are full of micro climates. We get our fog, especially in the western neighborhoods, and during the summer months, but some SF neighborhoods (east of twin peaks, which is smack in the center of the city) are basically sunny all year long. The fog rarely, if ever reaches them. The fog pops over twin peaks and will invade the western most eastern neighborhoods in the mornings and evenings, in the summer especially, as I said, but the middle of the day is usually nice and sunny.

[Beat02]

The East Bay Area is great to live in for weather. San Diego isn't my cup of tea (SoCal as a whole in fact) but maybe it is for your family. San Francisco will much closer resemble your surroundings/lifestyles in Seattle but the weather will be far better (the more inland you go). Look into the East Bay!

[jzt83]

If you live in the East Bay, you will have to pay a $5 to enter SF via the Bay bridge. Also, I doubt the 265 days of sunny days include days with fog. But SF is pretty sunny when compared to the Pac NW. The foggy season is during the summer and worse on the western half of the city than the eastern half. The rest of the year, the fog isn't that prevalent. If you want to live in the city of SF and want a lot of sun, I recommend the SE quadrant of the city in the "banana belt" area. The East Bay does get some fog especially the areas just east of the golden gate from around Albany to North Berkeley. From the there, the further south you go, the less fog you will experience. And over the hills into the outer East Bay, you will experience even less fog and more extremes in temperatures.

[happ]

Pretty much agree about the comparisons between San Diego & San Francisco's climates. In fact summers in San Francisco are actually a bit cooler than Seattle but when the PacificNW is cooling down fast in October with lots of rain, it is warm & sunny in San Francisco [September & October really is summer]. San Fransisco is about 10 degrees warmer than Seattle except during summer w/ a lot less rain. Frost is unheard of in San Fransisco [could you imagine driving on ice in San Fransisco?]

San Diego is entirely different since it is 1000 miles south of Seattle. There are only 2 seasons: the cool season from Nov to May when there is some rain [but not much] and days mostly 60-70F. Summer is mild but lasts thru October w/ some hot days but mostly 70-80F. It also gets a bit humid in SoCal unlike both Seattle & San Francisco.

Both San Fransisco & San Diego are on bays & it becomes much warmer just a few miles away from the beach. I have a great aunt & uncle in San Anselmo [just 10 miles north of San Francisco] where it averages in the 80's during summer [15+ warmer than the city of San Fransisco].