Do we underestimate and downplay how Great Sacramento weather really is? (San Diego: paid, districts)

[dontbelievehim]

I recently heard that insurance companies are raising prices in the norcal foothills and some areas of the NorCal foothills are even being denied insurance. Any truth to that? I'm curious about the viability of your impressive foothill communities.

[Chimérique]

Feb 13, 2019

Squaw Valley 33F Snow;
393 inches of snow to date

Sacramento 49 Rain; Placerville 21.12 inches of rain to date


Mt. Palomar 40F;
0.01 inches of snow to date

San Diego 53F; Ramona 11.25 inches of rain to date



Hi TS, Yes it is a special feature about the Sacramento Area. Besides Salt Lake City and Denver, there are just a few large metros in the country that have an abundant mountain snowy/cold climates and winter sports/recreation nearby.

Fresno does NOT fit the bill as Fresno lacks a large number of ski resorts nearby and those ski resorts do not offer a large variety of ski terrains that the Sacramento area ski resorts have.

Fresno does NOT have a large number of well populated and monied foothills towns, nor does it have the equivalent of a large mountain resort town that Tahoe is for Sacramento. Fresno does not of have a single foothill town on the same level as Sacramento's Auburn, Grass Valley, Placerville, Coloma, Jackson and Nevada City which are all part of the Sacramento Combined statistical area.

The Lake Tahoe area provides a much larger amount and much larger variety of accommodations than Yosemite. Tahoe is an established community with many restaurants, shops, grocery stores. South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding towns around Lake Tahoe have a real economic base as opposed to Yosemite which is simply a National Park. Both Yosemite and Tahoe are beautiful but Tahoe gives you more options, more things to do with less restrictions. In Tahoe you can camp in the wilderness like Yosemite, but in Tahoe, unlike Yosemite, you can chose from many different motels/hotels, or you can stay in a fancy hotel or cabin, go to a fancy restaurant, see a show, and partake in Nevada style gambling.

Sacramento also has much better access to these mountains paradises - an interstate highway (I-80); a national highway (50) and smaller highways that connect the various towns and regions of the Lake; and that also connect the foothill towns. Fresno, nor Stockton have the equivalent of I-80 that connects with the Sierras.

On our Saturday night rendezvous in Tahoe last weekend we drove back into Sacramento with 2 to 3 feet of snow on the top of the Subaru. That snow lasted all Sunday on top of the car in Sacramento. When I went to work on Monday there was still a few inches of snow on top of the car.

By the way the Sierras, Mammoth and Tahoe have the largest accumulation of snow anywhere in the USA this season to date.

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Feb 13, 2019

Squaw Valley 33F Snow;
393 inches of snow to date

Sacramento 49 Rain; Placerville 21.12 inches of rain to date


Mt. Palomar 40F;
0.01 inches of snow to date

San Diego 53F; Ramona 11.25 inches of rain to date



Hi TS, Yes it is a special feature about the Sacramento Area. Besides Salt Lake City and Denver, there are just a few large metros in the country that have an abundant mountain snowy/cold climates and winter sports/recreation nearby.

Fresno does NOT fit the bill as Fresno lacks a large number of ski resorts nearby and those ski resorts do not offer a large variety of ski terrains that the Sacramento area ski resorts have.

Fresno does NOT have a large number of well populated and monied foothills towns, nor does it have the equivalent of a large mountain resort town that Tahoe is for Sacramento. Fresno does not of have a single foothill town on the same level as Sacramento's Auburn, Grass Valley, Placerville, Coloma, Jackson and Nevada City which are all part of the Sacramento Combined statistical area.

The Lake Tahoe area provides a much larger amount and much larger variety of accommodations than Yosemite. Tahoe is an established community with many restaurants, shops, grocery stores. South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding towns around Lake Tahoe have a real economic base as opposed to Yosemite which is simply a National Park. Both Yosemite and Tahoe are beautiful but Tahoe gives you more options, more things to do with less restrictions. In Tahoe you can camp in the wilderness like Yosemite, but in Tahoe, unlike Yosemite, you can chose from many different motels/hotels, or you can stay in a fancy hotel or cabin, go to a fancy restaurant, see a show, and partake in Nevada style gambling.

Sacramento also has much better access to these mountains paradises - an interstate highway (I-80); a national highway (50) and smaller highways that connect the various towns and regions of the Lake; and that also connect the foothill towns. Fresno, nor Stockton have the equivalent of I-80 that connects with the Sierras.

On our Saturday night rendezvous in Tahoe last weekend we drove back into Sacramento with 2 to 3 feet of snow on the top of the Subaru. That snow lasted all Sunday on top of the car in Sacramento. When I went to work on Monday there was still a few inches of snow on top of the car.

By the way the Sierras, Mammoth and Tahoe have the largest accumulation of snow anywhere in the USA this season to date.

The amount of snow in the Sierras this year is just staggering! It really is a blessing. I do agree that South Lake Tahoe is on a totally different level of infrastructure than Yosemite, just saying that Fresno has consistent access to snow for many months of the year, even if not for skiing per see. It's still a nice bonus for a place that is otherwise fairly isolated from other Metro areas. What's also cool is that not far from Lake Tahoe, you can go into Reno, which is a bona fide city, and enjoy the winter snow in a totally different type of environment, not to mention the desert atmosphere in summer.

By the way, that Palomar Mountain snowfall to date can't possibly be accurate. We've already had several storms this winter with snow fall, and the most recent one stayed on the ground for about a week. I was still looking at remnants of it from 30 miles away yesterday. The annual average is 36 in, and my best guess would be we've had maybe 12 in to date. Not much, and in fact I would say far less than in the past few years despite the wetter winter, but better than I grew up in the Bay Area, so it's just right for me. :-)

On a side note, I'm expecting 3.7 additional inches of rainfall in my ZIP code in the next 36 hours, and 8 to 10 in of rain on Palomar Mountain! Snow levels will be rising throughout the state. You'll surely notice that in the Sierras as well.

What a wonderful change this winter is from a few years ago, when you might remember Lake Tahoe being bone dry and 60° in January due to a temperature inversion. Do you remember that? Ski resorts were really suffering. Not this year!

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Feb 10, 2019 - Sacramento 47F, South Lake Tahoe 15F

TS, On whim, for sh*ts and giggles, late in the evening last night we took the Subaru from Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe. I-80 had been closed all day and all night, Highway 50 was still open we figured it would be packed but it wasn't. Just Subarus and the snow removal guys. lol.

It was a major winter storm, blizzard white-out conditions. It was heavily advised not to travel the Sierras last night but we did, lol. It was 42F with moderate rain in Sac when we left about 7:30pm. Folsom to Placerville was 38-40F heavy rain, lots of wind swaying the Subaru. Placerville was 36F heavy rain with a mix of snow, but not sticking to the ground, Placerville is less than 2,000 feet elevation.

Going up, the Chain Control was at the Camino Exit, they almost always just wave through Subarus no questions asked. Within a mile up heavy snow, almost white-out conditions, and we got lucky as we were directly behind the snow removal tractor/truck and he cleared the way, two other Subarus went around the snow removal guy, so we felt more confident so we went around too. Heavy heavy snow, couldn't drive more than 40mph, speed limit was posted at 25mph. At point we were going only 10-15mph.

Beyond Pollock Pines (30F), it was practically white-out all the way to South Lake Tahoe. Huge chunks of snow from the trees would slam on the Subaru. We managed to find an area to pull off the road which has a wide view of the American River, of course, you couldn't see the river, total white out, but it was totally beautifully a bit scary because of the trees blowing and giant chucks of snow slamming down from the trees. The summit before South Tahoe (Echo Summit, 7,377 ft) got 24 inches of snow last night in less than 8 hours.

South Tahoe was 28F heavy snow, hit the Craps table and had a bit to eat and then went right back up the summit, and back down to Sacramento. But on the way back the snow level dropped below Placerville almost to Shingle Springs, snow level was less about 1,700 feet.

Yikes! Probably not the smartest thing to drive 100+ miles into a storm at night to go shoot some craps and have a bite to eat. I’d love to know how long this excursion took?

[dontbelievehim]

Hot spot in the sj valley today. It might even hit 70 degrees in some spots tomorrow. I'm liking this pineapple Express.

Edit: wind speeds for tomorrow
Sac:26
Fresno:26
Bakersfield: 24
You know it's a crazy storm when you see bako getting 20+ mph winds.
Any snow melt flooding concerns near sac? There's some in our foothills.

[mixxalot]

I am not- hate rain and biking in it!

[KC6ZLV]

Wow! I walked outside a few minutes ago and it is much milder than it was this afternoon when the temperature stayed around 53. I checked online and at 7PM the temperature at CSU Sacramento peaked at 61 degrees. At the same at Sacramento Int'l the temperature was 47. The latter station will likely warm into the mid-upper 50s overnight and remain there til morning before cooling gradually throughout the day tomorrow. The current forecast is for a temperature around 58 at 7 am, then down to 51 by 5 PM.


https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/ge...&num=300&raw=0

https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/ge...&num=300&raw=0

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by KC6ZLV

Wow! I walked outside a few minutes ago and it is much milder than it was this afternoon when the temperature stayed around 53. I checked online and at 7PM the temperature at CSU Sacramento peaked at 61 degrees. At the same at Sacramento Int'l the temperature was 47. The latter station will likely warm into the mid-upper 50s overnight and remain there til morning before cooling gradually throughout the day tomorrow. The current forecast is for a temperature around 58 at 7 am, then down to 51 by 5 PM.


https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/ge...&num=300&raw=0

https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/ge...&num=300&raw=0

Understand parts of the Bay Area warmed to 70f yesterday with the subtropical air flow. Nothing to write home about for mid Feb, but this year, not bad.

[KC6ZLV]

Originally Posted by tstieber

Understand parts of the Bay Area warmed to 70f yesterday with the subtropical air flow. Nothing to write home about for mid Feb, but this year, not bad.

Probably not. I couldn't find any temperatures above 65 north of Salinas.

[Chimérique]

It felt balmy last night compared to the last several days.
Feb 13, 2019 Sacramento: 59-60F at 9ish pm