'No Sky July': The Bay Area Is Experiencing Its Coldest Summer In Decades
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — San Francisco, the city by the Bay, isn’t known for balmy summers — but this year, it’s experiencing its coldest in decades.In fact, the National Weather Service's Bay Area office has dubbed this month "No Sky July.""Another soggy/damp start to the day for the Bay Area and Central Coast with low clouds and drizzle," the service wrote on Sunday.The phenomenon prompted the Los Angeles Times to quote Mark Twain’s famous quip: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”With no warmup in the forecast, Twain's comment feels especially relatable. On Sunday Morning, the National Weather Service said the San Francisco International Airport recorded its coldest start to the summer since 1965.In downtown San Francisco, the weather service measured the city's coldest half of a summer since 1982. Meanwhile, across the Bay Bridge, Oakland is experiencing its coldest summer since 1970 — the coldest on record for the city. “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,” Mehle told the Times. Elsewhere in the Bay Area, Kentfield hasn’t seen such a chilly start to summer since 2011. Napa and Richmond are both experiencing their coldest early summers since 1991, while San Jose hasn’t seen temperatures this low at the start of the season since 1999. In San Rafael, you'd have to go back to 2012 to find a similarly brisk June and July, and in Salinas, the last time it started off this cold was 1982. Temperatures Tuesday are expected to reach a high of just 67 degrees. And that's a warmup compared to how it's been. The daily average in downtown San Francisco has been just below 60 degrees, Matt Mehle, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, told the Times. Monday, the Bay Area office of the National Weather Service offered a cheeky contrast to a post from NWS Phoenix, which reported a sweltering 113 degrees at Sky Harbor Airport — 7 degrees above average. “San Francisco Downtown hit 66 degrees today,” the Bay Area office quipped.The chilly weather is being noticed all over the Bay, but it isn't necessarily ruining everyone's summer.Over in Walnut Creek, resident Lisa She'd 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.”National Weather Service meteorologist Dalton Behringer told the Bay Area newspaper: “We’ll see the sun in August.”So, what gives? Mehle explained to the Times that the seasonal high-pressure system that usually ushers in warmer weather is out of place this year, positioned farther west than usual. In its absence, a lingering low-pressure system over the Pacific Northwest and California has brought persistent cloud cover and unusually cool temperatures. That "misplacement" of a high-pressure system has added to increased "upwelling," which describes a phenomenon in which powerful winds bring deep, cold ocean water to shore. The summertime cold front, bringing drizzle and a grey skies, isn't going anywhere anytime soon, Mehle told the Times."We're basically locked in."And while the summer is off to a bitterly cold first half, that doesn't mean the Bay is in the clear for a random weather event that could turn things upside down. After all, San Francisco set its all-time heat record downtown at 106 degrees in 2017. “It’s the end of July," Mehle told the Times. "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."The article 'No Sky July': The Bay Area Is Experiencing Its Coldest Summer In Decades appeared first on San Francisco, CA Patch.
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