Northern CA Summer 2024 SkiTracks and High Temps

I went mtn bike riding in Santa Cruz and visited friend in Capitola on Tues as it was supposed to be the hottest day of the week. But it only got to 100 while Wednesday hit 102 on my and nearby wunderground station.

After cool morning and house, we only ran air for about 30 min on Tues while eating Pad Prik Khing Chicken my wife and son made. I'd planned to go to National Night Out event at our cabana club 3 blocks away before dinner but waited until afterwards when it had cooled off some and I walked the dog there.

What was nice about the first 5 days of August was, besides having fog (marine layer) every morning, blocking the sun until at least 9 AM, it cooled into the low 70s by 7 PM so we could open the house and start to cool it off. Today only got to 88 at my house and is down to 80 with 35% humidity at 6:30.
 
Meanwhile, Monsoon season kicked in this week for Colorado. So much so that yesterday we hit all the way up to 70F with rain, drizzle and fog (similar again today actually)! A bit unusual too. Typical monsoon stuff is unbelievably clear blue sky mornings with heavy afternoon thunderstorms.

Definitely better than having smoke from wildfires though.
 
Got to 96 at nearby wunderground station on Sat. after only getting to 90 and 92 on previous two days. We went to winery near Gilroy in mid/late afternoon where there was a warm wind to go with decent Grateful Dead cover band. I’m finding that when it’s over 95, it does not cool off nearly as quickly in evening. Today is predicted to be 6-10 degrees cooler in warm parts of Bay Area.

From local paper today:
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Big Tony, glad you have some fun strategies to beat the heat. We had a very hot summer in the Wash DC area esp. from late June to late July, including a handful of 100F+ days with high humidity. It had been 8 years since 100 degrees in DC. We seemed to have turned the corner in the last week and now there is not a 90 deg day in the 7 day forecast. I play golf once or twice a week and it will make those outings much more comfortable.
My son was in Las Vegas recently and said Aug 6 it was 115 degs. He stayed indoors at a conference. :eusa-dance:
 
jimk said:
including a handful of 100F+ days with high humidity.
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Did a big eastern trip with my family this summer, in part to get Jr to see some of the true East coast cities since we live west (taking him to Greek Peak doesn't count for that, Lol). Was 102F when we landed at IAD in mid-July. Toured the National Mall the next day in upper 90's heat and humidity which is especially bad for those of us that are used to the dry heat out west. Overall a pretty good trip despite that.
 
jimk said:
a handful of 100F+ days with high humidity.
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Unless in direct sun, that probably feels worse than our hottest July day of 110.

While I have felt cold twice this Summer; once on beach at Tahoe for concert that went until 930 and once walking dog near our house after 9 when I was in shorts and temp was close to 70, my wife got very chilled at concert at Mountain Winery near Saratoga, CA, elevation probably under 1000'. She thought thin pants and a short sleeve sweater would be enough, but was sorry she didn't bring in blanket we used to cover back and bumper of SUV where we tailgated before show. Show was somewhat of a letdown as headliner, Los Lonely Boys, canceled as father of the three brothers in band was not given long to live. The opener, Son Rompe Pera, was excellent and extended their time a little, as did Los Lobos.
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They offered a refund if you bought ticket through AXS, but my tickets were re-sale which would not have worked. They also offered free seat upgrades, but we were 10th row, close to center so instead they gave me two tickets to Lost 80's Live show, the best of about 10 they had.

Overnight people in my area said pink from Northern Lights was visible and it got down to 51 at my house, the coolest temp here this Summer.
 
Big Tony, you might have seen my music posts on skitalk... I saw two shows this summer at Wolftrap near me. In June we saw Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. The show included an enjoyable mix of their new and old music - rock, blue grass and everything in between. Plant is very savvy picking his song choices to showcase his limited older vocal abilities.

They did a nice version of Zeppelin's Battle of Evermore that gave me goosebumps, esp when Alison added her high vocals. I saw a fair amount of rock concerts in my youth, but I never saw Led Zeppelin live. When you finally hear an iconic tune live that you've known all your life it can be quite powerful.

Then we saw an Elvis Costello and Daryl Hall show in August. Elvis was good, but Daryl was pretty bad. That surprised us because Daryl sounds very listenable on his youtube videos from Daryl's House in the last ten years. But in real life his voice is shot - horse and flat. There's also a strong hint of arrogance that comes through in his between-song banter.
 
tseeb said:
Overnight people in my area said pink from Northern Lights was visible and it got down to 51 at my house, the coolest temp here this Summer.
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Our summer weather is overall very stable, barely worth commenting upon. Low temps are never below 60, and the highest they have been so far in the past month is 67, even when highs are in mid 90's. What will drive the low temps way up are Santa Ana winds, which I believe (and have read rationale) are decreasing in frequency with current climate. So vs. when I moved here 40 years ago the number of days where we need the A/C 3-5 hours is probably higher, but it's extremely rare to need it overnight.

To no surprise Liz is loading up our music schedule. UB40 and English Beat at the Greek Theater last week were particularly enjoyable.
 
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Lord, Sunday was a 52-58f external temp day - and an inside heat day - in San Francisco. Like January.

Yes, the city has been warm other times.
 
Another 51 this morning and our house was cool in AM even without running fans all night to bring in cool air/exhaust hot.

I had 920 annual appt. with my Dr. and since it was nearby, I brought mountain and parked at bottom of hill and rode into nearby park, where I used to ride with co-workers once a week. The big uphill is on a paved road that leads to an IBM Research Center while downhill is all on dirt.
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Golf Course on right edge has free music outside clubhouse that is on top of knoll on Thurs. nights. with reasonably priced beer and BBQ.
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Loma Prieta, elev. 3790, the highest peak in Santa Cruz Mtns at left, and Mt. Umunhum elev. 3489 at right block coastal cool from San Jose. Umunhum used to have an Air Force radar station that watched for hostile aircraft during Cold War. My brother was once stationed there.
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EMSC said:
So, so bone dry grasses and weeds...
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We call it the "Golden State"!

But yes, bone-dry grass, weeds, and trees. Napa and Sonoma can be better/greener due to their pine-covered forests and heavily irrigated lowlands/vineyards.
 
California is not the prettiest place once Summer hits the coastal and desert areas. (I have more of an East Coast aesthetic for greenery. And the NW and Rockies stay nice, too). I am generally not a fan of the desert cities: Las Vegas, Pheonix, Scottsdale, Palm Springs, etc.)

It's a different story in the Sierra and Cascade mountains, where the landscape remains lush and inviting, and the Redwood Coastal Forests retain their natural beauty.

However, the Golden State is one of the great euphemisms in vacation tourism.
 
I returned to Tahoe last weekend (Thurs-Mon again) to catch free music Thurs. eve and Sun PM. The same band played on beach Thurs. three weeks ago, but instead of going until after 930, they quit playing by 9 and did not do as many of the covers I liked during last show.
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I had a jacket and blanket in car, but did not need either. My wife was cold in 66* cabin a couple of mornings. On Sat. SLT reported 39* the fourth time below 40 (all during that week) since June 20. It was windy on both Sat and Sun. Reported temps on Fri and Mon were 77, but that is probably at airport. On Fri we hiked to Upper Angora Lake which is less than a mile from parking that can fill early in Summer. They have a nice beach, cabin and boat rentals, small store with ice cream, lemonade and sandwiches and cliffs for jumping. We saw a guy do a backflip off higher spot to right of center in 2nd photo.
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Friday night we went to reception for art exhibit at Community College where they are celebrating 50 years, then to Ski Run Blvd Farmer's Market.
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On Sat we walked to Heavenly Village. I took a longer route with our dog through Van Sickle Bi-State Park, going under Heavenly's gondola.
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On Sunday we walked a little over a mile each way across meadow to the dogs allowed part of Nevada Beach. Winds and waves drove us away before 1 PM. Sierra Tahoe is on ridgeline at far left, paddleboarder in Speedo failed trying to take out his dog. Mt Tallac to right of parasails.
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Then we saw Dirty Cello band at Valhalla. They put on a great show but quit at 6:30 when they were scheduled from 4:30 to 7:30.
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We returned to San Jose about 6 PM on Mon after stopping at turnoff to Kirkwood to meet friend who led us to, then around Kirkwood Lake which has about 25 Summer-only (as you could only find the chimneys most Winters) Forest Service cabins only reachable by boat. They are not connected to power lines, take water from the lake and have outhouses AFAIK. Will have to get photos from my wife as I didn't take any.

After unpacking and taking a shower I took my dog for a short walk before going downtown to a dive bar where my son was Karaoke host for the first time ever. Leaving the house, I was greeted by this fire in hills a couple of miles E/NE of our house. Photo taken at 823 PM.
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No danger of it getting to us as wind was from the N and fire was uphill and would have to burn through thousands of houses to get to us, but access to S of fire is very poor. They put it out in a couple of hours with a lot of resources including helicopters dropping water.

The other news to report is that Tahoe could get snow this week. /www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/snow-in-august-here-s-how-much-could-fall-in-the-lake-tahoe-area-and-when/ar-AA1pctJ1
 
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tseeb said:
Tahoe could get snow this week
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14ers of Colo are already in the transition back to winter now that we are in August as well... But occasional snow in Aug is pretty standard at that altitude now that solstice is 6+ weeks in the rearview mirror.

Longs Peak dusting

And for those that love season predictions way too early, plenty of those already coming out:

Turn off Javascript to see article
Colo snow way too early discussion

General gist is mild La Nina expected. For Colo that tends to be ~66% chance of an above average winter; However the remaining 1/3 of historical winters ended up well below average. Little middle ground historically - Either going to be very good, or really bad.
 
Last link by EMSC is paywalled.
EMSC said:
For Colo that tends to be ~66% chance of an above average winter; However the remaining 1/3 of historical winters ended up well below average. Little middle ground historically - Either going to be very good, or really bad.
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Typical MSM clickbait/drivel. Percents of normal snowfall18 La Nina seasons since 1974:
Northern and Central Colorado: 59,78,81,81,83,92,98,100,101,105,107,108,113,116,118,134,135,144, average 103
Southern and Western Colorado (includes ~10% weight for Taos): 61,74,76,83,84,86,88,92,97,97,106,107,112,114,116,117,135,140, average 99

While on the subject the ONI index most commonly used to track El Nino/La Nina is at +0.2 as of its last reading, and late summer is when it usually stabilizes.
 
EMSC said:
Turn off Javascript in your web browser. You won't get pictures, but can read the text of articles.
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Thanks. I presume it should be turned back on after reading. It will be interesting to experiment whether turning Javascript off will get through other paywalls.
 
If not, the Internet Archive has ~90% success rate of pulling in full articles (for me at least).

Go to: https://archive.is/

Insert the full article url and it will spend 2-3 minutes trying to pull in an archive version which is usually fully readable (though no interactivity, like comments are frozen in time or etc...).
 
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