Loved my trip to CA but had to come home to warm up--

[Hawk J]

In 2002 it was 120 degrees in Bullhead City,AZ in May...

[Ludachris]

California isn't warm all year round -especially in the northern half of the state. Hell, even in the summer you can travel 10-15 miles and experience vastly different temps and moisture levels. I remember heading out of San Jose, south on 101 heading towards Monterrey. Coming out of Gilroy it went from 85 and sunny to 65 and foggy in the late afternoon, which is fairly common in that area. Same goes for SF. The Bay Area has a lot of micro climates. But in general, you can expect half the winter up north to be rainy and pretty cold (for CA) and the other half to be mostly sunny and pretty warm (very warm compared to other states that don't border the Rio Grande).

[janelle144]

Originally Posted by Brenda-by-the-sea

So coastal California in February was not as warm as southern Arizona in June? Huh. I'll have to do some climate research on that one...

No, it was not as warm as KS in Feb, at least not the week we were there. I think CA never gets as hot as AZ or stay as hot as AZ.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by janelle144

I think CA never gets as hot as AZ or stay as hot as AZ.

Don't forget, Death Valley's in California. One of the hottest places on the planet.

[loveautumn]

alot of people overestimate our temperatures here...I guess they expect it to be more like Florida. You're right, we have many micro-climates and things can change within a few miles of each other. Generally, it never gets all that hot and never all that cold, but it does get colder here than alot of people think, esp at night. And the temps have changed (colder) in the past 30 years. For those visiting in the winter, you most likely won't be able to run around in shorts or lay out at the beach. I mean, of course it's better than Minnesota in January, but it's not sunny and hot in the winter the way some people expect it to be.

[janelle144]

CA has all the weather you may want then. Go to the mountains to ski or to the beach for the sun all in one day. Too cool.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by janelle144

CA has all the weather you may want then. Go to the mountains to ski or to the beach for the sun all in one day. Too cool.

Yes, this is really true. You can literally surf and ski in the same day if you want to. I grew up doing both throughout Winter.

Here is Yosemite in January:





And the Big Sur coast in January:





SoCal in mid-December:




Derek

[Phil306]

You see, some moron, many years ago, said California was always warm and sunny. Everyone walked around in shorts and bikini's. People believed it and the "myth" spread.

I can remember, several times in fact, being in Red Deer Alberta, when it was -15 degrees and people saying to me, "Oh it never gets below 80 degrees in California. You must be in shock." And when I explain, in the winter it often gets below freezing, they called me a liar.

Not ALL of California is LA. Not all of California has warm tempatures year round. Many places in California it actually snows. Golly gee whiz wally.

[.highnlite]

A few years ago at my house in California, it did not get above -15 for a week...