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Coastal San Diego has never recorded any snow accumulation (Although there have been flurries a few times in the past 150 years) and the city of Anchorage, Alaska has never recorded any snow in the month of July (although they have in June).
However, I believe both scenarios are entirely possible under a freakish set of circumstances.
Which of the two scenarios is more likely?
A) Coastal San Diego gets an inch of snow accumulation on Christmas Day
or
B) Downtown Anchorage gets an inch of snow accumulation on Fourth of July.
A) Almost got to freezing tonight. Just needed a little moisture with is and Wallah !!!!!! You got snow
And please put up a poll
My area is the area getting to freezing. San Jose is substantially colder than San Diego in winter. Coastal San Diego is not getting anywhere near freezing. Lows tonight in San Diego is forecast to be 48 F. They only get below freezing once every 20 years or so. My area gets below freezing 2-5 times each winter but still hasn't had snow accumulation here since 1976 since the freezes usually happen with dry cold masses or in the cold air behind a cold front after the rain is over.
Last edited by AdriannaSmiling; 12-04-2013 at 10:01 PM..
Coastal San Diego has never recorded any snow accumulation (Although there have been flurries a few times in the past 150 years) and the city of Anchorage, Alaska has never recorded any snow in the month of July (although they have in June).
While snow in coastal San Diego is extremely rare - I’m not sure it’s totally accurate that coastal San Diego has never reported snow accumulations. I think that outside areas in central and south Florida, accumulating snow (meaning more than a trace or T) has been reported at least once in every city in the USA.
In the book I have “Western USA climate” (1983)…there is a section about snow events in coastal California. They document a handful of rare snow events since 1851, including about the “big snow” of 1/10/1949 in Los Angeles and San Diego. From what I understand, January 1949 was an extremely cold month in California. On 1/10/1949, a snow storm dropped 4.7 inches of snow in Burbank and 3.0 inches in downtown Los Angeles. Some areas outside LA had up to 5 inches of snow in the foothills in coastal Malibu. Further south, the “official “ Weather Bureau report for downtown San Diego was T (or trace), but other parts of coastal San Diego county like Oceanside reported 1 inches and Del Mar 1 inch in this event. It seems that while coastal San Diego might have escaped accumulating snow, other areas in San Diego county seems to have had some acculmatuion
This is Burbank on the morning of the 1949 event:
The "big snow" for the San Fransisco Bay areas was without doubt on 2/5/1887. More than 4 inches of snow fell in downtown San Fran, and parts just outside the city north along the coast reported up to 7 inches. This is Market street on the morning of the 1887 San Fran/Bay area snowstorm:
Anchorage's average and record high and low temperatures in July is very similar to San Diego's in December. Anchorage is a hybrid of subarctic and maritime and doesn't get as warm summers as subarctic climates that are either inland or on the east coast of continents due to Pacific oceanic influence. However the long daylight hours may prevent it from dipping below freezing in July (although it has in June despite equally long daylight hours). My guess is A is more likely than B but B is not as impossible as snow in Honolulu on Christmas; it's still remotely possible.
Nei: based on data, which do you think is more likely in downtown San Jose? An inch of snow on Christmas or an inch of rain of rain on 4th of July? My guess both are possible though I've never seen any rain accumulation in July (I have in June and August though even if it's rare) or snow accumulation anytime of the year here (I've seen flurries a couple of times but they didn't stick).
Last edited by AdriannaSmiling; 12-05-2013 at 08:00 PM..
Anchorage's average and record high and low temperatures in July is very similar to San Diego's in December. Anchorage is a hybrid of subarctic and maritime and doesn't get as warm summers as subarctic climates that are either inland or on the east coast of continents due to Pacific oceanic influence. However the long daylight hours may prevent it from dipping below freezing in July (although it has in Hune despite equally long daylight hours). My guess is A is more likely than B but B is not as impossible as snow in Honolulu on Christmas; it's still remotely possible.
The difference is there's little source of colder air for Anchorage in July, while for San Diego there's a cold interior of a continent. Getting it to snow at the record cold temperature is another issue: the coldest nights would involve clear skies.
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