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

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by mysticpearl

Yeah but judging from this thread, EG is cooler and had lower overnight temps than anywhere else in the area.

Sacramento's daily summer cooling is a huge factor, not just for the nights, but all morning long until Noon-2pm.
The cooling averages 30-40 degrees!!... daily, from high to low.

If you track daylight hour temps from 6am til Noon in Sacramento during 3-4 months of summer you will see Sac beats just about every other major city across the nation for cool to comfortable temps, humidity, and heat index.

Sacramento sits with the East/South Bay Area, Coastal SoCal, Seattle, Portland, and Denver in comfort range for those hours. The cooling is a 95% daily occurrence during the summer.

The news and media hype and even locals only talk about the few days when it doesn't cool significantly or when we have that 100 degree day which is really only as uncomfortable as much of the USA and only for 2-4 hours; despite a 100 degree day we can always count on 30-40 degrees of cooling that same day which greatly improves on air conditioning costs.

Regarding humidity and heat index, Sacramento is almost always on the right side of that index.

Sacramento at 90F feels like 85F
Austin at 90F feels like 102F

Sacramento at 100F feels like 93F
Austin at 100F feels like 115F

[mysticpearl]

Originally Posted by Valley Boy

Yea we benefit from the Delta Breeze big time. Problem is overnight is when we sleep, so it's not like I get to enjoy the cool night time temps in the summer. Now when I worked nights, it was great for the most part.

Cooling makes a big difference inside the house though.

Where I currently am most summer evenings are mid 70s with high humidity. The heat just gets trapped.

[mysticpearl]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Sacramento's daily summer cooling is a huge factor, not just for the nights, but all morning long until Noon-2pm.
The cooling averages 30-40 degrees!!... daily, from high to low.

If you track daylight hour temps from 6am til Noon in Sacramento during 3-4 months of summer you will see Sac beats just about every other major city across the nation for cool to comfortable temps, humidity, and heat index.

Sacramento sits with the East/South Bay Area, Coastal SoCal, Seattle, Portland, and Denver in comfort range for those hours. The cooling is a 95% daily occurrence during the summer.

The news and media hype and even locals only talk about the few days when it doesn't cool significantly or when we have that 100 degree day which is really only as uncomfortable as much of the USA and only for 2-4 hours; despite a 100 degree day we can always count on 30-40 degrees of cooling that same day which greatly improves on air conditioning costs.

Regarding humidity and heat index, Sacramento is almost always on the right side of that index.

Sacramento at 90F feels like 85F
Austin at 90F feels like 102F

Sacramento at 100F feels like 93F
Austin at 100F feels like 115F

Yeah having lived in the Bay Area and now currently NY, people highly underestimate the impact of humidity.

We had plenty of dry, hot days in the East Bay and the summer is hot. But it never prevented me from wanting to be outside and Sac actually cools more than Walnut Creek/Concord.

But with humidity it feels about 10 degrees hotter, but it's also moist. You sweat just walking. You get sticky. And it lingers all thru the day well into the night. Maybe it starts to feel cooler around 10PM. It also smells. We run dehumidifiers 24/7 or the walls sweat. Plus, lots of mosquitos/bugs.

[NW4me]

Well, it doesn't get as hot as Redding?

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by NW4me

Well, it doesn't get as hot as Redding?

No its does not get as consistently hot as Redding mainly because Sacramento cools dramatically everyday because of the Bay-Delta; Sacramento sucks in all that Cool Pacific air. The Bay-Delta also prevents Sac from getting as hot as Redding in the first place.

Both Redding and Sacramento are in the Sacramento Valley but,

Redding is surrounded by mountains on three sides blocking cool pacific air; whereas, Sacramento is where the California Delta begins/ends.

The California-Sacramento-River Delta is a wide open gap in the Coast range; its an extension of the SF Bay-San Pablo Bay-which brings in the Cool air.

When and if there is an off-shore condition or High pressure that shuts down the free flow of air from the Bay, Sacramento can and sometimes gets near as hot as Redding, but rarely, and if it does its quick to go back to a normal on-shore flow condition where its cooler and stays cooler longer than Redding.

In fact, Redding rarely even cools into the low 70's or high 60's during the heart of the summer; whereas, Sacramento will cool into the high 50's/low 60's.

Sacramento to San Pablo Bay(Vallejo) = 60 miles, no mountainous obstructions
Redding to Arcata Bay(Eureka) = 150 miles; huge mountainous obstructions

[tstieber]

I forgot about how the dry season is so constantly sunny away from the coast. Certainly in the coastal Bay Area or here in San Diego, we're just now in May Gray and June Gloom so enjoy lots of cool and cloudy days when the trees are green

Originally Posted by Chimérique

How did y'all like a cold wet winter? I personally loved it. It made me start snow-skiing again although later in the season. This is going to be an epic white-water kayaking, rafting season both down in the valley and in the foothills, can't wait.

The last time we had something similar was in 2016/17, and 2018/19, but those years were just wet not that cold.

2016/17: 33.94, just shy of 34 inches! - Very very Wet year.

2018/19: 25.87, just shy of 26 inches! - Way above normal.

2022/23: 26.00? - Current Season, Way above normal.

I was walking around midtown Sacto this morning and just loving all the green, everywhere green and Colorful!

I thought I'd take advantage of wet, cloudy and green.......because in the winter it maybe wet, and the ground is green....BUT the trees don't have leaves and nothing is in bloom so this is that one week or two or three, when we have Green, Huge Green Tree Canopy of Leaves AND Cool and Cloudy, no Sun......don't need the Sun cuz we gonna have a ton of Sun sooner than you think.

As always, we always get a tiny taste of what's to come before the coming season starts. In this case, last week gave us a preview of the coming Summer.

Last week Sacramento had a few days in the upper 80's/low 90's, but as usual though,

the low temps were very cool and comfortable, low 50's.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by mysticpearl

Great job on this thread, Chimerique!

It actually is a significant reason why our family is a step away from fully committing to Sac.

We lived in the Bay Area for 20+ years and have been to Sac many times but always associated it with 110 degree summer days which just drag on. We didn't realize it actually cools down so much. And now we're in NY where even though the temps don't get so high, the humidity is incredible so the real feel is very high. And it stays warm/muggy around mid 70's most nights. Plus all the mosquitos which come with the humidity.

My wife and I didn't realize how much humidity sucks. We also having lived all across the Bay Area never noticed mosquitos. By Aug we can't BBQ in our back and you can't go to a park or hike without getting eaten.

Obviously many other factors in moving back to NorCal and going to Sac instead but in regards to the weather, it is better than many places.

Draw a line from coast to coast about from mid-CA to Conn and everything south of it outside San Diego either gets brutally hot and doesn't cool (AZ/NM/UT/TX) or you get extreme heat, high overnight temps and humidity(all of the south and south east). New England you also get heat and humidity until getting up to Northern VT or Maine. And anywhere East of about Colorado sees heat, humidity and loads of insects.

I don't think some realize how few places you can be outside in the summer and while hot its bearable because there's no humidity or insects, and in winter you can just throw on a light jacket and go for a run/hike. I know how many places as I have canvassed this continent looking for where we're moving. NorCal, Oregon, Wash State and Nevada. That's it.

You're Welcome, and Thank you for your post! :-)

[Chimérique]

We had our first Pool Party outdoor bbq for the warm season this weekend!

Pool water was the perfect temp 83F, solar heated.

Excellent Sunny and Warm, upper 80's for a high temp, no on-shore flow,

so it stayed warm into the night, Saturday evening , but

Sunday evening there was a nice steady cool on-shore flow by 6-7pm, so a very comfortable cool evening and night, low's mid 50's.

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

We had our first Pool Party outdoor bbq for the warm season this weekend!

Pool water was the perfect temp 83F, solar heated.

Excellent Sunny and Warm, upper 80's for a high temp, no on-shore flow,

so it stayed warm into the night, Saturday evening , but

Sunday evening there was a nice steady cool on-shore flow by 6-7pm, so a very comfortable cool evening and night, low's mid 50's.

Wow, impressive! You're definitely ahead of us down here in SD -- way too much marine layer

[mixxalot]

Definitely warmer temps and pool without heated at 72F today! So looking forward to swim season soon. Cooler evenings are nice just open windows and run whole house fan and sleep comfortably. So far I have not used the A/C just fans as downstairs not bad. I need to get a solar heater for pool to maximize swim season.