Which bay city has the most sunny days?

[Dave Coe]

Originally Posted by fashionguy

Yes I really like the weather here. My only complaint is that the hills in the summer don't look pretty. They are too yellow and strange.

thats strange i think they are the most pretty in the late summer and fall when they turn that golden coller but thats what I love about the bay area is you get the contrast. which you don't get in Socal and the PNW.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by tstieber

Good point. It also depends on the year. This past winter sucked, but the year before, SJ had 70F+ temps in January for about two weeks. Santa Barbara is only a 4 1/2 hr drive -- perfect for a weekend getaway -- but there are a good number of days every winter when even the Monterey Bay and areas closer in (like SLO) get really warm weather, so that winter getaway may only be 2 hours driving. But yeah, even 58 days of rain per year is a pretty nice statistic compared to 99 % of the country.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I spent one Christmas a few years ago in Morro Bay. It was in the mid 60s there and sunny while it was overcast and in the high 50s in SJ. So sometimes you only have to go 2 or 3 hours, but it's chancier than going further south.

[batransplant]

The difference between the bay area and LA for weather is that the weather cools off to the 60's in Oct/Nov. in the bay area, and LA will stay in the 70's and 80's thru dec. It also warms up quicker in the spring then the bay area so it seems like it is always warm in LA w/ the exception of Dec/Jan/Feb. The bay area winter really goes from Nov-April...though this year is starting earlier w/ the storms we've had already.

I remember when I was in college, it would be oct/nov and I would be in sundresses and sandals in LA going to the beach, then come visit friends at Cal and be freezing, having to bundle up in warm clothing. It would be overcast, windy and chilly with intermittent periods of sunlight.

Plus in So Cal, if it drops below 70, people break out their winter clothes. In the bay area people break out cold weather clothes when it goes below 60.

The bay area has weather. You pay attention to it during the news. I don't think I ever checked the weather my entire life till I moved north. Now I check it religiously. :-)

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by batransplant

The bay area has weather. You pay attention to it during the news. I don't think I ever checked the weather my entire life till I moved north. Now I check it religiously. :-)

LOL, I'm sure the rest of the country would laugh at that statement about the Bay Area having weather. But as a weather wimp, I do know what you mean.

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by batransplant

The difference between the bay area and LA for weather is that the weather cools off to the 60's in Oct/Nov. in the bay area, and LA will stay in the 70's and 80's thru dec. It also warms up quicker in the spring then the bay area so it seems like it is always warm in LA w/ the exception of Dec/Jan/Feb. The bay area winter really goes from Nov-April...though this year is starting earlier w/ the storms we've had already.

I remember when I was in college, it would be oct/nov and I would be in sundresses and sandals in LA going to the beach, then come visit friends at Cal and be freezing, having to bundle up in warm clothing. It would be overcast, windy and chilly with intermittent periods of sunlight.

Plus in So Cal, if it drops below 70, people break out their winter clothes. In the bay area people break out cold weather clothes when it goes below 60.

The bay area has weather. You pay attention to it during the news. I don't think I ever checked the weather my entire life till I moved north. Now I check it religiously. :-)

November, yes, October no. Bay Area averages in October in most areas are WELL into the 70s, we always get at least some 90F weather at some point in the month, and then it dips quickly into the 60s in November and really starts to rain sporadically, depending on the year. The real turnaround normally starts now. Yesterday morning, they showed "average" highs for November 1 and 2 between 69F in SF and 72F in Concord and Santa Rosa, which is still pretty warm. Those will drop sharply in a week or so. However, it's supposed to get into the 80s inland this week here in the Bay Area. I've experienced at least a handful of warm Thanksgivings over the years, but usually warm spells don't extend past mid-November.

You check weather religiously? That's really funny to me, seeing as my family moved here from Europe decades ago, where there is a four season climate. To us, the Bay Area climate is almost perfect. We never think to check the weather, because it seems to be almost always sunny and rarely too hot or cold. Our Israeli friends who lived in Walnut Creek told us the climate out there is almost indistinguishable from Jerusalem. To most people, Jerusalem has great weather. But in Israel, people from Tel Aviv think Jerusalem is really cold and damp. It's kind of the same thing as SoCal/NorCal. So it's all relative. East Coasters or Northwesterners love our Mediterranean climate, but SoCal'ers think it's terrible. SoCal is really almost desert and not truly Mediterranean, while the Bay Area is squarely Mediterranean. In fact, I think much of the Mediterranean has worse winters than the Bay Area.

Around here, the weather forecast most of the year is "night and morning low clouds and fog at the coast, extending locally into the bay, otherwise mostly sunny. Afternoon winds 15 mph. Cool at the coast, warm inland. This is a recording." :-)

[Utahooligan]

There are lots of microclimates in the SF Bay area due to the Pacific Coast & mountains.

Redwood City's official motto is "Climate best, by government test."


It dates back I don't know how many decades ago to when the federal gov't, perhaps NOAA or Dept of Agriculture, surveyed climates & Redwood City had pretty much the best, in terms of moderate temps.

[Snort]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Sunnyvale.