Monterey weather vs Oregon

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Santa Cruz is definitely pretty sunny and warm and gets into the 70's and 80's most of the year. It's set on Monterey Bay in a way that shields it from the foggy Pacific, so it's sunnier than other coastal areas like SF and Monterey which are foggy and chilly along the coast in summer. Also the further inland you go from the coast the sunnier and warmer it gets, though the only thing immediately east of Monterey is Salinas.

Santa Cruz like Monterey has microclimates. And Santa Cruz also gets summer fog which varies depending on which part you are in. While there are some parts of Monterey which may get foggier than parts of Santa Cruz I disagree that they are really that different overall. Just looking at the city data climate imformation shows almost identical graphs for both sunshine and cloudy days. The majority of differences will be dependant more on the micro climate section one is referring to or familiar with (e.g. Monterey sunbelt. etc...). I've seen fog in SC and Monterey in the summer time, pretty normal stuff.

And yes, as you head east in both places it will get sunnier. For Santa Cruz that means heading toward San Jose. Even Scotts Valley will get less fog than the coast in the summer months. For Monterey there is more than Salinas to the east. You have Carmel Valley and other desirable locations along Hwy 68 like Corral De Tierra, San Benancio Canyon, Las Palmas, Indian Springs, etc... Even right behind the Monterey airport there will be less fog.

And this summer fog is pretty common for all the Central and Northern Coast. Even SoCal gets June gloom which can extend into July in some years. No place is sunny all the time on the coast. But then that's the way some of us like it - variety in the weather pattern. I've lived in hot climates where I can't wait for summer to end and air conditioning is necessary. I'll take the natural AC of some fog over that heat during the summer months any day.

Derek

[bigdumbgod]

Been raining so much lately, the friggin' hills are falling down around the Bay Area. Thankfully this is not the norm.

[tstieber]

I would just do what some people have said -- live a couple miles inland from the coast, like in Carmel Valley -- so the marine layer burns off. As long as you're away from the immediate coast, you should get a good 8 to 9 months of sun. Definitely way way fewer days of actual rain. Marine layer is the nuisance, not rain like in Oregon.

Also, Monterey averages about 60 degrees in January, much much warmer than Portland. It won't freeze or snow there. So at least you'll see some palm trees.