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Sacramento is a lot warmer in the winter, spring and fall. Denver is flat and so is Sacramento.
Denver has mountains to the West. Sacramento has mountains to the West and East.
Another interesting similarity between Denver and Sacramento that applies to just a few major metros in the nation: Summer nights, evenings and mornings. The majority of our major metros in the nation have uncomfortable dew points and high humidity during the summer and it stays uncomfortable, muggy and hot throughout the evening, night and morning (A.M temps till at least noon). Except for the major metros below:
Of the largest 40-50 major metros, The coolest most comfortable Summer evenings, nights, and mornings are:
1. San Francisco Bay Area including San Jose and the Silicon Valley
2. Portland, Seattle and Denver - all pretty similar
3. Sacramento
City of Denver is very, very flat overall just like Sacramento. The only hilly areas are parts of SW Denver about 20 miles from the center of the city. Sacramento is very flat.
Sacramento seems to be slightly hotter during the day in the summer, but not much.
Sacramento and Denver temperatures plummet in the evening.
Seems like even in the middle of the summer, there are many crisp mornings in both but once the sun comes up it heats up fast but once it sets it plummets fast.
I don't have the exact numbers but I was stunned in Sacramento when I walked in my motel room at 4pm when it was extremely hot and then walked outside at 9pm when it extremely comfortable with a cool breeze. I was there a week and it was every night very similar.
The moment the sun goes down the temperatures plummet in both. Sacramento has an evening breeze.
Goes to show how overpriced Denver is for what it offers... The more I've explored, the more I've come to realize Denver's a lousy compromise of mountains and city and does neither very well.
Sacramento is an amazing place located in a valley where ANYTHING can grow, that alone justifies a higher price, let alone having mountains on both sides and close access to the ocean. The fresh food and produce must be amazing, along with the botanical variety. I do want to see the city to see the trees it's famous for.
Mayor Speer may have planted trees in Denver, but there's only so much you can do when you get things like a random hard freeze in early Oct. that killed about 10% of the trees along the front range this last year. That day / night temperature swing may be nice from a persons perspective, but it's absolutely murderous to plants, and why Denver is one of the hardest spots in the nation to have anything grow. The warm dry streaks in winter mess them up just as much. Only a couple of species of trees survive in the long run. The city only looks green and tree covered because the surrounding plains are such a contrast. It's one of the most paved over cities in the US.
The climate of Denver has always been oversold and overhyped, it has good 'feels like temps' but is so variable and has great plains hail / drought / wind / tornado problems that are always overlooked. You have to go west into the mountains of CO to actually get good climates with predictable weather, if you can handle winters. The mountain scenery is significantly better in the back ranges than what's available in the front chunk near Denver as well.
Denver's just not in that blessed of a geographical spot to justify it's price, unlike Sacramento.
Goes to show how overpriced Denver is for what it offers... The more I've explored, the more I've come to realize Denver's a lousy compromise of mountains and city and does neither very well.
Sacramento is an amazing place located in a valley where ANYTHING can grow, that alone justifies a higher price, let alone having mountains on both sides and close access to the ocean. The fresh food and produce must be amazing, along with the botanical variety. I do want to see the city to see the trees it's famous for.
Mayor Speer may have planted trees in Denver, but there's only so much you can do when you get things like a random hard freeze in early Oct. that killed about 10% of the trees along the front range this last year. That day / night temperature swing may be nice from a persons perspective, but it's absolutely murderous to plants, and why Denver is one of the hardest spots in the nation to have anything grow. The warm dry streaks in winter mess them up just as much. Only a couple of species of trees survive in the long run. The city only looks green and tree covered because the surrounding plains are such a contrast. It's one of the most paved over cities in the US.
The climate of Denver has always been oversold and overhyped, it has good 'feels like temps' but is so variable and has great plains hail / drought / wind / tornado problems that are always overlooked. You have to go west into the mountains of CO to actually get good climates with predictable weather, if you can handle winters. The mountain scenery is significantly better in the back ranges than what's available in the front chunk near Denver as well.
Denver's just not in that blessed of a geographical spot to justify it's price, unlike Sacramento.
I disagree with much of this. I live downtown and it's a perfect mix of urbanity and recreation here. I can walk to alot of urban amenities but cities have and still be in the mountains in 30 mins.
I love the climate here, the hail is a problem sure but it's nothing like living in south Louisiana with flooding and hurricanes, plus tornadoes and massive thunderstorms. I've been here a couple of years and haven't heard about any tornadoes, wind isn't a disaster either.
Denver is in a great geographical location in my opinion, it could use more water but this isn't Burger King.
I don't know how you complain about Denver not having the absolute best views of the range, that's beyond silly. One of the worlds most famous ranges are nextdoor to the city and that's amazing in itself.
I never saw the similarity between Denver and Sacramento...
Have you ever spent any significant lengthy time Sacramento to even make such a judgement, and after reading all the posts, maybe you can start to see the similarities now.
I disagree with much of this. I live downtown and it's a perfect mix of urbanity and recreation here. I can walk to alot of urban amenities but cities have and still be in the mountains in 30 mins.
I love the climate here, the hail is a problem sure but it's nothing like living in south Louisiana with flooding and hurricanes, plus tornadoes and massive thunderstorms. I've been here a couple of years and haven't heard about any tornadoes, wind isn't a disaster either.
Denver is in a great geographical location in my opinion, it could use more water but this isn't Burger King.
I don't know how you complain about Denver not having the absolute best views of the range, that's beyond silly. One of the worlds most famous ranges are nextdoor to the city and that's amazing in itself.
You can drive 30 minutes, and you'll be at those trails where there's no parking spots left, dog poo bags are everywhere, and you're just in the foothills. It's a solid hour to get anywhere alpine and less crowded, without any traffic on I 70. I just spent 2 weeks in Copper and got a fresh understanding of why Colorado is such a great state, it's gorgeous at the smallest and largest scale, with a lot of recreation and variety. Going 1 range east, from the Gore-Squito range to the Front Range, the understory greenery and flowers diminished significantly and the cliffs and spires were replaced with long, steady slopes. If Denver backed up to Mt. Holy Cross and the Sawatch front, that would be a stunner view, but the central front range from 40 miles away just isn't quite the same.
There's more to climate than just how it feels on your skin. Maybe I'm biased being raised by landscaper parents, but calling a climate wonderful where most everything you plant dies seems rather misguided. This last year we entirely skipped fall completely, had brown and snow from Oct-May, had 2 months of green, and now it's back brown again...
There's more to climate than just how it feels on your skin. Maybe I'm biased being raised by landscaper parents, but calling a climate wonderful where most everything you plant dies seems rather misguided. This last year we entirely skipped fall completely, had brown and snow from Oct-May, had 2 months of green, and now it's back brown again...
You're right about that. A lot of people I know who relocated here from the upper midwest are just happy to have a winter with some 60 degree days (I've been one of those people), but the longer I live here the more I'm irritated with the climate - it's rude and erratic. It also seems like all of the vegetation was superimposed on the metro area, like some guy from Chicago chose all of the wrong plants to grow here, with the result being a fairly ugly urban forest full of dead/dying trees.
I think Denver would look a lot better if they had been self aware of the environment here, and chose species specifically adapted for the climate. Cities in New Mexico, namely ABQ, are way better at this - you don't see as many people trying to keep lawns and other imported species on life support.
I could get into all of the other ways Denver is overrated, but they've been covered.
There's more to climate than just how it feels on your skin. Maybe I'm biased being raised by landscaper parents, but calling a climate wonderful where most everything you plant dies seems rather misguided. This last year we entirely skipped fall completely, had brown and snow from Oct-May, had 2 months of green, and now it's back brown again...
Yeah, it's definitely your bias. Most people aren't basing a climate on whether something can grow or not. They indeed base it on how it feels. Hints why most prefer dry weather over humid weather, despite Humidity making a landscape look way nicer (For example). Denver definitely isn't a place that's good for growing. It's disappointing when everything starts to look nice in the Spring/Fall and then we get a freeze/snow that ruins the beauty, so I agree there. But that also doesn't happen every year.
Sacramento is a lot warmer in the winter, spring and fall. Denver is flat and so is Sacramento.
Denver has mountains to the West. Sacramento has mountains to the West and East.
Another interesting similarity between Denver and Sacramento that applies to just a few major metros in the nation: Summer nights, evenings and mornings. The majority of our major metros in the nation have uncomfortable dew points and high humidity during the summer and it stays uncomfortable, muggy and hot throughout the evening, night and morning (A.M temps till at least noon). Except for the major metros below:
Of the largest 40-50 major metros, The coolest most comfortable Summer evenings, nights, and mornings are:
1. San Francisco Bay Area including San Jose and the Silicon Valley
2. Portland, Seattle and Denver - all pretty similar
3. Sacramento
For example,
July 2, 2020 - Summer Weather At 7am in the morning
San Francisco - Wind Chill 49F - SF will still be only 60F by noon, and rarely gets above 62F in the middle of the summer.
San Jose/Silicon Valley - 53F
Seattle - 56F
Portland -56F Sacramento - 57F - Full Sun - Sacramento is this cool because the cold Pacific Ocean Air blows straight up from SF Bay up and into Sacramento. By noon it will be 80F because it is inland unlike the coast which remains "cold". No matter how "warm/hot" it gets by late afternoon, we always have very cool mornings and nights, very comfortable evenings throughout the summer.
Denver - 63F- Denver is this cool because of 5,000 foot elevation
Los Angeles - 65F
New York City - Feels like 72F
Atlanta - Feels like 73F Phoenix - 81F - Always uncomfortable 24 hours a day in the summer Austin - Feels like 84F - Always uncomfortable humidity and dew points in the summer
You can drive 30 minutes, and you'll be at those trails where there's no parking spots left, dog poo bags are everywhere, and you're just in the foothills. It's a solid hour to get anywhere alpine and less crowded, without any traffic on I 70. I just spent 2 weeks in Copper and got a fresh understanding of why Colorado is such a great state, it's gorgeous at the smallest and largest scale, with a lot of recreation and variety. Going 1 range east, from the Gore-Squito range to the Front Range, the understory greenery and flowers diminished significantly and the cliffs and spires were replaced with long, steady slopes. If Denver backed up to Mt. Holy Cross and the Sawatch front, that would be a stunner view, but the central front range from 40 miles away just isn't quite the same.
There's more to climate than just how it feels on your skin. Maybe I'm biased being raised by landscaper parents, but calling a climate wonderful where most everything you plant dies seems rather misguided. This last year we entirely skipped fall completely, had brown and snow from Oct-May, had 2 months of green, and now it's back brown again...
We always have parking along Clear Creek just after the first tunnel and there's never dog poo where we hang out. The foothills to me is still the mountains. I don't particularly want to go to alpine areas all the time, that's too much for me. I didn't grow up with recreational activities around me like this, only swamps.
To me it's wonderful because I can actually go outside in summer without immediately sweating, summer nights are actually cool (never knew that was real), and winter's are barely colder than in Louisiana (slight exaggeration).
It also never rains or rains long so your days will hardly ever be ruined by weather unlike other areas.
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