What are the winters like in northern california?

Like summer

The coldest winter I ever…

As a Northern Californian (from Davis, Ca about an hour and a half north of SF) I’ll tell you what winters are like in my part of the state.

Usually pretty mild compared to other places. Cold and dry in the beginning, then cold and wet in the later months. Our rain started late this year though. The rain isn’t bad at all, unless it’s mixed with wind. The wind is what sucks. The temperature ranges from 50s to 60s during the day and roughly around the 40s in the nights. Not usually cold enough to leave ice on the roads, but you will get frost on your car and lawn.
Where I live, we rarely get snow. When we do get snow it’s more like slush, but exciting for us all the same. Last time it “snowed” was this past December (when I was in Tennessee and missed it.. just my luck). Before that, the last time it snowed was in 2002.

It rains a lot, but it’s probably not going to get all that cold unless you’re way up in the Sierras. Very pleasant, actually.

Rainy. It also can get down near 40s (which is cold!) near SF. I live in Redwood City, which is 20 minutes south.

I live in Humboldt County, about 250 miles north of SF (on the coast), and we usually get a lot of rain and wind.

I guess it’s sort of a week-on, week-off thing up here, with one week being sunny, and the next week being a downpour of rain or hail (but no snow).

As for the summers though, it’s just constant fog… Not much sun here.

The weather can be very different inland than on the coast. Inland it can be 10–20* colder and just a little bit drier because more rain is dropped as a storm passes over the coastal hills.

Another big difference is the fog. Coastside we have ground level in the summer that rarely gets inland. That’s when they take all of those pictures of the GG Bridge wrapped in fog but clear skies above. In the winter however it changes. SF has high clouds but clear at ground level. 50 miles inland they have Tule fog with about a 20’ visibility distance. Hiways 5 and 99 have pileups of 20+ vehicles almost every year.

On the other hand we do have weeks of 65–75* weather. If you get sick of the snow, either the 2nd or 3rd week in February is mild spring weather.

@Allie: I have lived in the Bay Area for my whole life and never seen or heard of snow here.

I live in Benicia which is about 45 min – 1 hour drive to SF. What everyone else said is pretty much right on. Its cold enough to complain about it, but not enough to snow. It can get very foggy sometimes, mostly in the morning and sometimes at night. When it begins to rain it usually goes on and off for a month or so. When its windy thats when it worst because sometimes it is enough to reverse your umbrella (which it hilarious i might add). Other then that its not that bad.

@popo7676 Check this out.

”@Allie” Holy Crap!! Your right!!! Wow im going to UC Davis in 2 years. How often would you say this happens in Davis? Just for a heads up yano.

@popo7676 Not often at all. The most recent was this past December (which I’m still upset that I missed). Next next one back was during the 2001–02 school year. I was in eighth grade and the school board said we didn’t have to go to school seeing as how it was kind of a special day and all. Before that it was in 1988, or so I’ve been told. I was 1 in ‘88 so I don’t remember it. Then before that I think it was in the late seventies, but again, I can’t be sure since I wasn’t alive.

I am betting nothing like the winters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Canadians don’t call it Winterpeg for nothing. 50 below zero is common.