Bay Area breaking records during one of its coldest summers in decades
Several cities have not experienced the typically high temperatures one would expect for this time of year.
Downtown San Francisco has only observed two days this summer since June 1 at or above 70 degrees. Normally, there are between 14 and 15 70-degree or above days at this point in the season. It's the 2nd-lowest number of 70-degree days during summer behind 1965.
Salinas hasn't been warmer than 71 degrees since June 1, shattering the old record of 76 degrees from 1969.
Records for the maximum temperatures stretch back to at least 1940, and the following cities this summer have set their lowest maximum temperatures.
It's been decades since it's been this cold in June and July across the Bay Area.
Petaluma Airport observed its coldest June and July on record, since 1902, and it's Oakland's (OAK) 10th, San Jose's 8th, and San Francisco's (SFO) 7th coldest first two months of summer on record. In fact, the majority of the population in the Bay Area has not felt this big of a summertime chill so far this century.
2025 has been SFO's coldest summer since 1965, OAK's since 1975, and San Jose's coldest since 1999.
To understand why summer 2025 has been so cool, let's take a look at what a normal summer looks like for the Bay Area. Typically, there are the Four Corner's and/or Pacific High that keep warmer and drier conditions in place. These areas of high pressure also deflect the jet stream away from the West Coast, keeping away a lot of cloud coverage and moisture.
But this summer, there has been no high pressure developing in the area it normally does over the Four Corners or the Pacific.
That's allowed the jet stream, which guides large storms, to move farther south, over California. As storms dipped south, it ushers in more moisture and cooler temperatures. And since the areas of high pressure weren't there to act as a barrier, moisture and cooler weather have been able to persist for basically two months.
Now, the Four Corner's High is developing, bringing a return to more seasonable, if not above average heat, to the West Coast. It won't be extreme heat in the Bay, just more summer-like.
Cooler and wetter conditions are great for lowering wildfire threats. California is currently in wildfire season, but the additional fog and clouds over the past couple of months have increased fuel moisture.
More water in the vegetation means it's not only more difficult to spark, but any fires that do start are less intense and do not grow as quickly.
Fuel moisture is forecasted to decrease, unfortunately, as high pressure and drier air arrive over the next week.
Interested in Bay Area meteorology?
CBS News Bay Area meteorologist Zoe Mintz is always happy to answer any weather-related questions and can be emailed at zoe.mintz@cbs.com.
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