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I trust stats more based on my experience, and the stats say that If I was in Downtown San Francisco during the daytime I would expect to wear just shorts and a t shirt from February to November. Describing it as freezing is just absolutely ridiculous. It's only freezing on exceptionally rare winter nights.
Well excuse me for not expecting you to take "freezing" literally. I have an idea. Show up in San Francisco in shorts and a t-shirt in June and July and then tell me what you think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gizmo980
Thank you.
I've lived in the Bay Area for over 30 years, including 5 years in two different parts of San Francisco - also live/d in the north Peninsula, south Bay, and worked in the east Bay for years. So I'm pretty sure I am familiar with our various climates! And as you said (also I did above), I'm only comparing us to people's expectations of CALIFORNIA.
I was based at Vandenberg AFB for several months for training. I drove out west from San Antonio, Texas and was shocked to arrive to cold rain in Lompoc, which is about 300 miles south of the Bay Area. I expected "Sunny" California. Driving an hour or so north or south on Highway 1 takes you to drastically different climates.
Well excuse me for not expecting you to take "freezing" literally. I have an idea. Show up in San Francisco in shorts and a t-shirt in June and July and then tell me what you think.
I was based at Vandenberg AFB for several months for training. I drove out west from San Antonio, Texas and was shocked to arrive to cold rain in Lompoc, which is about 300 miles south of the Bay Area. I expected "Sunny" California. Driving an hour or so north or south on Highway 1 takes you to drastically different climates.
I mean I think as long as you have tolerance to mild to cool weather you can stand out in a t-shirt and jeans in the summer there. I wear that most days here in the winter where I live and the average high is 62F and low is like 42F. Though if it is cloudy and windy I will transition to jeans when it is at the lower range depending on how I feel.
Edit: Though that is only for me and I am good with the cold. My dad grew up in San Francisco and he dresses like I do in those same temps. He even describe San Francisco as a comfortable summer. Though my mom would wear a jacket in that kind of weather easily so it depends on the person.
When I was younger and my experience at the beach was on the Gulf Coast, I went to the beach in Oregon in July and it was freezing. I just got back from 2 weeks in London and the weather was better than I anticipated as it rained less days than it was dry and there was a couple sunny days. When I was at Machu Pichu, I was surprised to see vegetation typical of a tropical climate as well as vegetation we see in Seattle area because the climate is moderate year round. We own a condo in Marbella, Spain and spent a winter there and it was cooler than I anticipated.
You already mentioned it but Australia is the number one pet peeve of mine. It seems like everyone from the US, Canada and Europe imagines Australia to be like the Sahara Desert but with kangaroos.
How many Americans are aware that the hills of southern Australia (they call them "mountains" down under but they are really just hills by American standards, 4000' to 5000' at most) get snow in the summer months on a regular basis? Christmas Day snowfalls occur once every 3-4 years in the hills of NSW and Victoria. December 25th is well into summer. Can you imagine a June 25th snowfall in Denver every 3-4 years, and Denver is actually higher than any of those mountain peaks!
Also, if you look at the record lows in January in these Australian alpine towns and villages, they are all several degrees below freezing, like 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit. To find record July lows like that in the US, you'd have to head to the highest points in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, several thousands of feet higher than the Aussie towns and farther from the equator as well.
Australia is bloody cold for its latitude, especially in summer, and especially the southeastern quarter of the continent.
Well excuse me for not expecting you to take "freezing" literally. I have an idea. Show up in San Francisco in shorts and a t-shirt in June and July and then tell me what you think.
If I arrived from somewhere else in the U.S, I'd find it cold.
If I arrived from far northern Canada, or from the southern tip of Chile, then I'd find it quite warm .
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Neptunepenguins
I mean I think as long as you have tolerance to mild to cool weather you can stand out in a t-shirt and jeans in the summer there. I wear that most days here in the winter where I live and the average high is 62F and low is like 42F. Though if it is cloudy and windy I will transition to jeans when it is at the lower range depending on how I feel.
Edit: Though that is only for me and I am good with the cold. My dad grew up in San Francisco and he dresses like I do in those same temps. He even describe San Francisco as a comfortable summer. Though my mom would wear a jacket in that kind of weather easily so it depends on the person.
I've experienced a mix of weather in the "coastal" Bay Area in the summer.
In June, I've experienced sunny and low to mid 60's
In July, I've experienced drizzle and overcast and upper 50's
And in August, I've experienced sunny and low 70's (that was the best)
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arctic_gardener
You already mentioned it but Australia is the number one pet peeve of mine. It seems like everyone from the US, Canada and Europe imagines Australia to be like the Sahara Desert but with kangaroos.
How many Americans are aware that the hills of southern Australia (they call them "mountains" down under but they are really just hills by American standards, 4000' to 5000' at most) get snow in the summer months on a regular basis? Christmas Day snowfalls occur once every 3-4 years in the hills of NSW and Victoria. December 25th is well into summer. Can you imagine a June 25th snowfall in Denver every 3-4 years, and Denver is actually higher than any of those mountain peaks!
Also, if you look at the record lows in January in these Australian alpine towns and villages, they are all several degrees below freezing, like 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit. To find record July lows like that in the US, you'd have to head to the highest points in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, several thousands of feet higher than the Aussie towns and farther from the equator as well.
Australia is bloody cold for its latitude, especially in summer, and especially the southeastern quarter of the continent.
Seems to affect the Pacific coast more than the Indian coast. Western Australia warms up quicker as you move north than the eastern states, Victoria, NSW, Queensland do
Seems to affect the Pacific coast more than the Indian coast. Western Australia warms up quicker as you move north than the eastern states, Victoria, NSW, Queensland do
Good point. Inland Western Australia has a normal climate for its latitude and altitude. Of course, I am defining normal by North American, Northern Hemisphere standards as my frame of reference, and an Aussie could argue that North American summers are insanely warm for their latitude. But that's a different discussion....
I'll say it one more time, then leave the subject alone: I'm discussing the microclimates of San Francisco (and Bay Area in general), which can vary greatly within just a mile or so. You can't tell me I'm incorrect about the lack of sunshine in the Sunset District, when I lived there for long enough to say I'm correct. Why do you think it's called The SunSET? And even if you're right about the sunshine downtown, I was only saying that's not true about all of SF! Also, the northwest Peninsula (like Pacifica) is super foggy most of the year. I lived there as well, and they even have an annual Fog Day Celebration.
The question is really that why would anyone live in the Sunset District when they know the weather is foggy? They can hardly complain soon as they choose to live there and it’s much sunnier only a few miles away. You’d be an idiot not to perhaps even go on a walk just to find the sun! Microclimates are not even comparable to widespread climates. And I am comparing downtown sites, as I said it’s not possible for the climate to be drastically different just a few miles away. I had a look at webcam history and it seems there is only much difference to the sunshine in the summer, and as it’s 10 hours per day in downtown SF in July, even if it was half that amount it would still be abundant. Sometimes there is a reversal of conditions where the coast is sunny and the inland cloudy as is often the case around the world. Then the rest of the year is largely fog free and there really is only minor differences between different parts. It’s all exaggeration.
HOWEVER, I do know how it feels when it’s foggy where you live all day and then sunny all day only a few miles away, It happened where I live yesterday but it’s of course much rarer here. Happens once a year tops.
I live in Vancouver and we have a similar climate to the UK with much more rainfall and I can tell you when I visited San Francisco in July and assumed it would be like a Vancouver summer, I was dead wrong. I was one of those hapless tourists shivering and had to buy a sweatshirt. It was an odd sensation to be burnt and shivering at the same time that trip. I won't make that same mistake if I go back again in the summer
Vancouver has warmer summers than than both the UK and SF.
Average July maximum:
UK: 19.4C
SF: 19.1C
VC: 22.2C
Vancouver is slightly drier than the UK, average rainfall is 1153.1 vs 1154 mm for the UK.
It is true that people would not expect the sun to be as strong as it is in SF, the UV in July is 10. But you seriously wouldn’t be shivering with that strong sunshine
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