The most San Francisco summer — just one day in 70s in August

Fog is seen over the hills and Golden Gate Bridge on Thursday, August 18, 2016 in San Francisco. Fog is seen over the hills and Golden Gate Bridge on Thursday, August 18, 2016 in San Francisco. Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close The most San Francisco summer — just one day in 70s in August 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

The cool mists of San Francisco have gotten a little carried away this summer, blanketing much of the city in a noirish gloom that has even those who profess to like fog hankering for a ray or two of sunshine.

This August, a month that means searing heat in most other places, has been decidedly cool in the city, according to the collectors of weather records.

San Francisco has seen only one 70-degree day in August, according to meteorologists. The last time the city had a month that wouldn’t budge above 70 at all was 1942, and there have been only two other Augusts on record — in 1917 and 1882 — with that distinct dishonor.

“We had the one day when we reached 70 degrees. That was on the eighth of August. And every other day has been in the 60s,” said Jan Null, a meteorologist for Golden Gate Weather Services who’s been tracking August records.

It hasn’t been a brutally cold month, he noted. Just persistently foggy and maddeningly temperate.

“We’re in an extreme of mildness,” he said.

As if to emphasize this point, the temperature in San Francisco reached a tantalizing 68 degrees early Friday afternoon, with blue skies and sun downtown, but cooled off steadily the rest of the day.

And, as usual, the infernal fog rolled in over the beleaguered Sunset District, where residents had gotten a short, teasing glimpse of that seldom seen fiery orb in the sky known as the sun.

“It’s the first sunny day we’ve seen in something like 45 days,” said Roger Cook, owner of Nomad Cyclery on 27th Avenue and Irving, before the fog rolled back in. “Oh, it’s been really foggy. Everybody is talking about it.”

Cook said the relentless pall of gray hasn’t really hurt business, but he constantly has to explain to shivering tourists renting bicycles about the San Francisco climate and why the fog rolls in off the Pacific Ocean. He said he is normally OK with fog, but not this much of it.

“It can be somewhat depressing,” he said. “If you are a normally depressed person, you would get really depressed. I’m not one of those guys, but it does get a bit discouraging.”

August — which some locals have taken to calling “Fogust” — hasn’t been the only cold month. The summer as a whole has been decidedly un-summery. San Francisco has hit the 80s four times this year. And none of those days arrived in the summer months.

“The warmest reading all year was April 6, and it hit 87. Then two more dates in April and one day in May,” said Charles Bell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey. “And that’s been it.”

The irony is that it actually hasn’t been a whole lot cooler, on average, in San Francisco. Historically, high temperatures in August average 66 degrees, and this month, the city has been averaging 64, making it about the 37th-coolest August on record, Bell said.

Last year, he said, the average high for the month was 72 — the ninth-hottest August. A drop like that in one year can feel pretty significant in a city that doesn’t get a lot of big shifts in temperature, he said.

Most San Franciscans, and even shorts-and-tank top-wearing tourists, seem to be taking the marine layer in stride.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Cassandra Vincent, 38, who moved to downtown San Francisco less than a year ago from Arizona. “I moved here from Phoenix, so I’ve had my full fill of heat.”

Christine Guggenmos, 32, and her boyfriend, Thomas Preiss, 47, both of Germany, said San Francisco weather is a welcome respite from New York, Washington, D.C., and Death Valley, which they had just visited.

“Yes, it’s very windy,” said Guggenmos, who seemed to be enjoying the cool breeze. “It’s like Hamburg here.”

“It was in the 100s when we left, so this is perfect,” said Berket Betemarian, 15, visiting the city for the first time from Las Vegas. “But you can still wear shorts here.”

Not everybody wandering around in the biting wind on the Golden Gate Bridge or at other foggy attractions in the city was thrilled by the crisp coastal temperatures.

Crista Lucey, 57, a San Francisco accountant who was showing the Golden Gate Bridge to some visitors from France, said the local weather can catch people from hot places by surprise.

“Our weather is so fickle,” Lucey said. “I’m surprised by how much fog we’ve been seeing. Very wet. Very windy.”

Jamie Andrew, 30, from London, and his girlfriend, Ella Young, 28, weren’t quite ready for the cold.

“We’re wearing every piece of clothing we brought,” Andrew said. “It’s certainly colder than we thought it’d be.”

There won’t be much use for beach towels, sunscreen or bathing suits in or around San Francisco until after Labor Day, Bell said. The low-pressure front that’s causing the cooler temperatures — optimists call it the Bay Area’s “natural air conditioner” — has set up camp over the West Coast and doesn’t seem inclined to blow off any time soon.

“We have to have a pattern change, and there’s not an indication of that coming,” Bell said. “Even looking out two weeks.

“If it makes you feel better, and I don’t know why it would,” he said, “we’re having the same issues down here in Monterey, day after day after day. If people want the heat, they’re going to have to go well inland.”

It was 79 in Sonoma, and Stockton hit 87 Friday. There was no sign of fog in Redding, which was a decidedly summery 97 degrees.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Peter Fimrite contributed to this report.

Erin Allday and Kimberly Veklerov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com and kveklerov@sfchronicle, Twitter: @erinallday, @Kveklerov