Latest news with #coldest summer
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
City by the Bay? More like City by the Brrr! San Francisco is having its coldest summer in decades
Time to cue that famed quote, often falsely attributed to Mark Twain: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." It's a cliche, sure. But this year it rings true. It really has been quite chilly in the City by the Bay, which is experiencing its coldest summer in decades, with no significant warm-up in sight and daytime highs topping out in the mid-60s. In downtown San Francisco, the average temperature in July has been 59.3 degrees, about one degree below normal, Matt Mehle, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Monterey, said Saturday. The average temperature in San Jose in July has been 67.4 degrees, about two degrees below normal, he said. And in Oakland, as of Saturday, the temperature had reached 75 degrees or higher just one time in July, compared with three times in February. "It's not record-breaking — but at this point, we're looking anywhere from 20 to 30 years since we've had this cold of a summer," said Mehle, noting that the area last saw similar weather patterns in the late 1990s. Mehle said a seasonal high-pressure system that typically brings warmer weather is somewhat misplaced this year, sitting farther west than normal. This summer, he said, a low-pressure system has been parked over the Pacific Northwest and California, leading to unrelenting cloud cover and cooler temperatures. Read more: Trump cuts to California National Weather Service leave 'critical' holes: 'It's unheard of' The "misplacement" of the high-pressure system, he added, has contributed to increased upwelling, a process by which strong winds bring deep, cold ocean water closer to the surface. When the wind blows over this colder water toward land, it brings the temperatures down. "The coastal upwelling has been really notable right outside the San Francisco Bay and west of Point Reyes," Mehle said. In the coming days, the drizzly gray weather along the coast is not expected to change much, said Mehle, who drove to work in Monterey on Saturday with his windshield wipers swishing. "We're basically locked in," he said of the weather conditions. Even in San Francisco, where countless summer tourists have unexpectedly shelled out money for sweatshirts and scarves, the chill has been the talk of the town. Nudist Pete Sferra, who keeps a journal describing how many times he walks the city in the buff, told The San Francisco Standard this week that he has "actually been enjoying quite a few nude strolls this year." But even he would not go out "if it's freezing." Walnut Creek resident Lisa Shedd, 60, told The Mercury News: "I certainly love the temperate weather. I'm not a fan of the really hot. I don't know if it means something bad or it means something good ... but I know I'm enjoying it." Karl the Fog — the anthropomorphized San Francisco fog with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media — joked on Instagram that the forecast for Thursday was "partly cloudy, winds coming in from the west, and a high chance of Trump being in the Epstein files." Farther north, this summer has brought oppressive inland heat and dangerous lightning storms. In Orleans — a tiny northeastern Humboldt County town near the site of the massive, barely-contained Butler fire in the Six Rivers and Klamath national forests— temperatures had been above 100 degrees seven times this month as of Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Read more: At least four firefighters injured while battling Northern California wildfires In Redding, the temperature had hit 100 degrees or higher 11 times this month, topping out at 109 on July 11. Mild summer temperatures in Los Angeles, where the downtown high has averaged about 82 degrees in July, also have been satirized. This week, the popular @americanaatbrandmemes social media accounts posted a much-shared meme showing a man walking toward his house, saying: "Summer in LA has been pretty mild!" Just inside the door, unseen by him, a woman and two children are holding knives, ready to pounce. Their names are August, September and October. In the Bay Area, Mehle warned that "while we started off colder, that doesn't mean that summer is over." The hottest temperature ever recorded in downtown San Francisco, he noted, was 106, on Sept. 1, 2017. "We're sitting here under drizzle, clouds, in the cold," Mehle said. "It's the end of July. But summer is not over when you look at our climatology. Some people want slightly warmer temperatures — but you have to be careful what you wish for." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Entire state of California enduring cold summer
The Golden State has been a lot gloomier this summer as California experiences chillier weather and cloudy conditions which experts say is set to stick around. Temperatures in the Bay Area have hovered at an average of 67 degrees, below the average of 71 and making it the coldest summer since 1965. The phenomenon is due to a layer of air near the Pacific Ocean known as the marine layer, which is formed when warm, dry air comes in contact with a cool body of water. In the summer months the warmer weather and cool water create a more dense marine layer, which causes low-hanging clouds that dampen a good beach day. 'The cooler waters off the Baja California coast have lingered through mid-July. The cooler waters have allowed upper-low pressure areas to drift into central California and enhance the marine layer for the Bay area. As a result, the low clouds have been more stubborn than normal this summer,' AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Chad Merrill told Daily Mail. He noted that the high temperate in San Francisco has been 5 degrees cooler than average and has experienced a higher frequency than normal of overcast skies. 'The onshore flow contributes to the enhanced marine layer and this onshore flow is brought on by a series of upper-lows that have been off the coast and pushed inland through the central part of the state this summer,' Merrill added. This phenomenon is unique to the West Coast because cold water in the Pacific Ocean moves south from the Gulf of Alaska . Water along the eastern Gulf Stream brings warmer tropical water north, meaning the east coast doesn't see the dense marine layer that California does. The marine layer along the east coast reforms almost daily, while along the west coast it can persist for days or weeks. San Francisco has seen a higher frequency than normal of overcast skies at 11 a.m. compared to average this summer. The cloud cover from the enhanced marine layer has allowed temperatures to trend cooler during the day. Californians have nicknamed the weather patterns as 'May Gray,' 'June Gloom,' and 'No-Sky July.' 'June gloom is so named as June can be one of the months that tends to have more persistent marine clouds than any other month,' weather expert Ken Clark with AccuWeather said. This summer season has seen a dense marine layer, resulting in colder temperatures and cloudy conditions for Californians along the coast. Greg Porter, the senior meteorologist with the San Francisco Chronicle , noted that Tuesday was the second day in a row when the entire Bay Area stayed under 80 degrees Fahrenheit. 'This cool, muted July follows an equally subdued June, driven by a combination of local ocean conditions and large-scale atmospheric patterns,' Porter said. 'Along the coast, colder than normal sea surface temperatures sharpen the marine layer, leading to thicker cloud cover, slower clearing and dampened daytime highs, even across the typically hot inland locations.' Porter predicted the gloomy conditions are here to stay until August. The forecast for parts of southern California remains chillier, with parts of San Francisco experiencing highs in the low to mid-60s. Meanwhile, those who live farther inland can potentially see drastic differences in temperatures. 'It's not uncommon to have it cloudy and in the 60s at the beaches while it's in the 80s or even 90s only 10-20 miles inland,' Clark explained. Another reason for the persistent haze off the golden coast is a pattern called the jet stream, which are narrow winds high up in the atmosphere. Porter explained that the jet stream has fallen into a semi-stationary rhythm, continuously holding over the same regions. The Earth has four primary jet streams that move weather systems from west to east. However, when a jet stream remains stationary, weather can stay relatively stagnant. 'California has been on the eastern flank of one such ridge, locked into a cool, cloudy pattern that persisted through June and July and now looks to continue into early August,' Porter said. 'Elsewhere, the same jet stream setup has delivered much more active weather from the grueling heat in Europe and Asia to the deadly flash floods across parts of the US.' The meteorologist predicted that this pattern is likely to continue through the summer, so those thinking of planning a beach vacation to the California coast may want to reconsider going west. As California experiences cooler and cloudier temperatures, other parts of the country are seeing extreme weather . Texas experienced deadly flash floods at the start of the month, killing over 137 people, while the Tri-State area reached over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in June.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Entire state of California enduring COLD summer thanks to bizarre weather pattern
The Golden State has been a lot gloomier this summer as California experiences chillier weather and cloudy conditions which experts say is set to stick around. Temperatures in the Bay Area have hovered at an average of 67 degrees, below the average of 71 and making it the coldest summer since 1965. The phenomenon is due to a layer of air near the Pacific Ocean known as the marine layer, which is formed when warm, dry air comes in contact with a cool body of water. In the summer months the warmer weather and cool water create a more dense marine layer, which causes low-hanging clouds that dampen a good beach day. 'The cooler waters off the Baja California coast have lingered through mid-July. The cooler waters have allowed upper-low pressure areas to drift into central California and enhance the marine layer for the Bay area. As a result, the low clouds have been more stubborn than normal this summer,' AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Chad Merrill told Daily Mail. He noted that the high temperate in San Francisco has been 5 degrees cooler than average and has experienced a higher frequency than normal of overcast skies. 'The onshore flow contributes to the enhanced marine layer and this onshore flow is brought on by a series of upper-lows that have been off the coast and pushed inland through the central part of the state this summer,' Merrill added. This phenomenon is unique to the West Coast because cold water in the Pacific Ocean moves south from the Gulf of Alaska. Water along the eastern Gulf Stream brings warmer tropical water north, meaning the east coast doesn't see the dense marine layer that California does. The marine layer along the east coast reforms almost daily, while along the west coast it can persist for days or weeks. San Francisco has seen a higher frequency than normal of overcast skies at 11 a.m. compared to average this summer. The cloud cover from the enhanced marine layer has allowed temperatures to trend cooler during the day. Californians have nicknamed the weather patterns as 'May Gray,' 'June Gloom,' and 'No-Sky July.' 'June gloom is so named as June can be one of the months that tends to have more persistent marine clouds than any other month,' weather expert Ken Clark with AccuWeather said. This summer season has seen a dense marine layer, resulting in colder temperatures and cloudy conditions for Californians along the coast. Greg Porter, the senior meteorologist with the San Francisco Chronicle, noted that Tuesday was the second day in a row when the entire Bay Area stayed under 80 degrees Fahrenheit. 'This cool, muted July follows an equally subdued June, driven by a combination of local ocean conditions and large-scale atmospheric patterns,' Porter said. 'Along the coast, colder than normal sea surface temperatures sharpen the marine layer, leading to thicker cloud cover, slower clearing and dampened daytime highs, even across the typically hot inland locations.' Porter predicted the gloomy conditions are here to stay until August. The forecast for parts of southern California remains chillier, with parts of San Francisco experiencing highs in the low to mid-60s. Meanwhile, those who live farther inland can potentially see drastic differences in temperatures. 'It's not uncommon to have it cloudy and in the 60s at the beaches while it's in the 80s or even 90s only 10-20 miles inland,' Clark explained. Another reason for the persistent haze off the golden coast is a pattern called the jet stream, which are narrow winds high up in the atmosphere. Porter explained that the jet stream has fallen into a semi-stationary rhythm, continuously holding over the same regions. The Earth has four primary jet streams that move weather systems from west to east. However, when a jet stream remains stationary, weather can stay relatively stagnant. 'California has been on the eastern flank of one such ridge, locked into a cool, cloudy pattern that persisted through June and July and now looks to continue into early August,' Porter said. 'Elsewhere, the same jet stream setup has delivered much more active weather from the grueling heat in Europe and Asia to the deadly flash floods across parts of the US.' The meteorologist predicted that this pattern is likely to continue through the summer, so those thinking of planning a beach vacation to the California coast may want to reconsider going west. As California experiences cooler and cloudier temperatures, other parts of the country are seeing extreme weather. Texas experienced deadly flash floods at the start of the month, killing over 137 people, while the Tri-State area reached over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in June.
