Redding, California the 2nd sunniest US city? (Sacramento, Anaheim: island, county)

[Tall Traveler]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

Hah! Let me dispel your thinking as far as cooling off in the evenings. This tricked me, too. And I'm a research-aholic. If you look at the data for hourly forecasts, you will learn that the nighttime low doesn't occur until about 4am. So, you do not get the evening or nighttime cooldown temps you'd expect.

Then, by about 10am, it's unbearably hot again. So, your only window of comfortable outdoor temps is from about 4am to about 10am max. Forget the rest of the day, and forget the evenings.

I think what would be helpful for you, is to look at the monthly calendars on a weather website, like here:

https://www.wunderground.com/history...calwx_calendar

Then, also look at the hourly data, so you can see when it gets hot and when it cools down.

Thanks, I did that and it was very informative. Did you have other reasons to leave Redding or was it only attributable to the heat? Some say Redding has lots of homeless, drug addicted, thieves. I gather from your posts that Redding politically is not to your liking but it would be to wife and myself's political leanings so that's not an issue for us.

I retire in a month so plan to tour some areas to see for myself areas of interest like Redding. I haven't changed at this stage from my plan to winter in Phoenix and the rest of the time in the PNW.

[DCMann2]

Originally Posted by Tall Traveler

Thanks, I did that and it was very informative. Did you have other reasons to leave Redding or was it only attributable to the heat? Some say Redding has lots of homeless, drug addicted, thieves. I gather from your posts that Redding politically is not to your liking but it would be to wife and myself's political leanings so that's not an issue for us.

I retire in a month so plan to tour some areas to see for myself areas of interest like Redding. I haven't changed at this stage from my plan to winter in Phoenix and the rest of the time in the PNW.

I can't speak for her, but for me it's 100% the climate that makes Redding untenable. It's just miserable for half of the year, every year.

And yeah there are homeless and drugs, but you're never going to escape that unless you live on a homestead in the middle of nowhere.

If Redding were picked up and plopped somewhere with a better climate it would be a perfectly average city that I probably wouldn't mind living near, and plenty of people like it as is which is why it's the size that it is.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by poibon77

I read that Redding, California is the 2nd sunniest US city with 88% possible sunshine with Yuma, Arizona being number 1 with 90% possible sunshine. How is this possible?? Redding is much closer to Oregon than Arizona. Even cities that are south of Redding like Fresno are not even close to being that sunny. So my question is: Is Redding, CA really sunny 88 percent of the time?

Also, Redding gets about 33-34 inches of precipitation per year. It would be hard to believe that a place like that would be sunny 88% of daylight hours.

Well for one thing, parts of Oregon have above average sunshine. The climate doesn't follow state lines. I'm slightly sceptical myself of that claim of Redding being #2, but if it is not it is probably pretty close to being true.

[Tall Traveler]

Originally Posted by DCMann2

I can't speak for her, but for me it's 100% the climate that makes Redding untenable. It's just miserable for half of the year, every year.

And yeah there are homeless and drugs, but you're never going to escape that unless you live on a homestead in the middle of nowhere.

If Redding were picked up and plopped somewhere with a better climate it would be a perfectly average city that I probably wouldn't mind living near, and plenty of people like it as is which is why it's the size that it is.

For perspective, I've lived the last 2 years in Kuwait (still here but leaving soon) which has an average daily high of 18F higher than Reding and nightime daily high of 21F warmer than Redding in July and has 7 months hotter than the hottest month in Redding....so the temps in Redding do not look like the brutal heat monster that so many people on CD are claiming to me.

The temps where you live I actually wouldn't mind but it would freeze my wife to death and we both love the sun. The things about Redding that are appealing to us are the sun hours, lakes, rivers, mountain views, trails, biking opportunities, long swim season, trees, proximity to the coast, enough rain for trees but not too much, right libertarian leanings of the populace, and reasonable cost of living. The negatives would be the homeless meth heads, a bit remote to a major airport, and it's in a high tax and over regulated (in our opinion) state.

[pnwguy2]

I think there is some truth to Redding being #2 in total sunshine. That said, Redding does get chilly on winter mornings, and occasionally experiences snowfall. Summer highs are definitely hot, but cools greatly at night. Over the years I have encountered many foggy mornings in the area.

Though off topic with weather, keep in mind Redding is somewhat isolated as California cities go. 2.5 hours to Sacramento, 3.2 hours to the Bay Area, and 6.5 hours to Portland, Oregon. It is definitely a motel stop for many driving from Seattle to SoCal, as is Red Bluff, just a half hour south of Redding.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by Tall Traveler

Thanks, I did that and it was very informative. Did you have other reasons to leave Redding or was it only attributable to the heat? Some say Redding has lots of homeless, drug addicted, thieves. I gather from your posts that Redding politically is not to your liking but it would be to wife and myself's political leanings so that's not an issue for us.

I retire in a month so plan to tour some areas to see for myself areas of interest like Redding. I haven't changed at this stage from my plan to winter in Phoenix and the rest of the time in the PNW.

The homeless problem is like any city in CA now, and is mainly downtown. Other things that I didn't love about Redding was that there weren't any bus trips to sign up for. I love to sign up for senior bus trips to go see shows or just other recreational things. Normally, I'll sign up for a day trip, but I've also signed up for weekend wine tasting trips, things like that. Redding has nothing like that.

Another thing that was weird for me in Redding, was the subculture that is into growing pot and into the whole State of Jefferson thing. There is also the Bethel church population. Both are kind of near-radical sub-cultures that I find odd. But, they aren't dangerous, and if you can just go with the flow when you encounter them, it's no huge deal. But, it was very different from the SF Bay Area where I grew up, or even living in the mountains of WA.

I'm also used to a lot of diversity, and other than religious groups and pot growers, there isn't much diversity. You also won't find an Asian food market, for instance. I just missed all of the ethnic shops and diversity. I can remember being surprised to ever hear another language spoken in Redding, other than English. Normally, I'd hear other languages on a regular basis. it was just weird to not only be around so many Republicans, but to just only see white people speaking English almost everywhere. At first, that can be kind of nice, where you never feel awkward around someone who can't speak your language, but for me, it was like being on another planet.

I was getting into the kayaking you can do for free or you can give a donation if you want - at Whiskeytown Lake. You can volunteer, and I was looking into becoming a volunteer and would have really enjoyed that. But, I decided the weather was just too severe for half the year there.

Another great thing about Redding are all of the dog clubs. I checked out a couple of them, but they didn't fit my rat terrier - fly ball and diving dogs and sight hound racing (they also have a division for non-sight hounds). I was going to try getting into barn hunting (forget what it's called, but where they look for rats), but we moved away.

There is also a great rodeo, and I love rodeos. And lots of good big name shows come to town.

So, really, if it wasn't for the weather, I might have just stayed there. I could have dealt with the other negatives. But, it made me look again into my options, and I was able to figure out how to get subsidized housing back in the SF Bay Area, so came back to where I grew up and where I'm most comfortable.

But, again, other than the horrible summers, as far as heat, a person could do a lot worse then Redding. I was actually trying to figure out if I could live in Crescent City on the coast during the summer, and live in Redding during the winter, but was able to just come back to the SF Bay Area. But, I think that would be a pretty decent compromise for someone who wanted to stay in CA for the health benefits, and state supplement to people on SSI, etc. Crescent City is cheap and nice and cool in summer, and Redding has lots of sunshine and things to do in winter.

[Brandon Graves]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Well for one thing, parts of Oregon have above average sunshine. The climate doesn't follow state lines. I'm slightly sceptical myself of that claim of Redding being #2, but if it is not it is probably pretty close to being true.

It's really not much of a surprise that Imperial County as a whole is within the darkest (meaning highest percentage of sunshine hours) shade of red on the map you posted, along with southwestern Arizona.

But, for the Coachella Valley (and the rest of eastern Riverside County) to be within a slightly lighter shade of red (lower percentage of sunshine hours)? What gives?

Perhaps the monsoon season coming from Arizona in July and/or August has something to do with it?

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

Originally Posted by Brandon Graves

It's really not much of a surprise that Imperial County as a whole is within the darkest (meaning highest percentage of sunshine hours) shade of red on the map you posted, along with southwestern Arizona.

But, for the Coachella Valley (and the rest of eastern Riverside County) to be within a slightly lighter shade of red (lower percentage of sunshine hours)? What gives?

Perhaps the monsoon season coming from Arizona in July and/or August has something to do with it?

I driven through the CV on my way to Orange County on days where the marine layer is socked in from Banning westward and on days like that, some spillover clouds make it as far as North Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs

[Brandon Graves]

Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220

I driven through the CV on my way to Orange County on days where the marine layer is socked in from Banning westward and on days like that, some spillover clouds make it as far as North Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs

But, I thought the marine layer never reaches Banning (or the IE for that matter) nor the CV. It's far too inland for CA.

How often do you think that this happens?

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

Originally Posted by Brandon Graves

But, I thought the marine layer never reaches Banning (or the IE for that matter) nor the CV. It's far too inland for CA.

How often do you think that this happens?

It happens, mainly in Spring. I remember driving from Phoenix to Anaheim on 3/26/11, and up until Thousand Palms, it was clear blue skies, then from TP to NPS saw the thick grey wall right ahead, and by Banning all the way to Anaheim was overcast