SF shivers as July temperatures plunge below February's average

Summers in San Francisco are cold. That's not news. What is news is that so far this month, July's high temperatures are averaging 62.8 degrees in downtown San Francisco, while February's average high temperature soared to 66.3. Call it climate change, call it the end of El Niño and the start of La Niña. Most of us just call it cold.

Heaters are clicking on in the mornings for coastal residents, after a night of stiff ocean breezes and fog.

Walking down Market Street, you can catch several locals with wool scarves wrapped around their collars (and plenty of tourists with goose bumps stepping into department stories to buy a fleece jacket).

Compare that to February's tank top weather, where the Ides of March brought a high of 77 degrees to downtown. When you look at the entire month, the average tempearature was 58.6 degrees. That's 4.7 degrees above normal.

July, on the other hand, has been on average 57.9 degrees, which is 2.3 degrees BELOW normal.

Image 1 of / 28 Caption Close SF shivers as July temperatures plunge below February's average 1 / 28 Back to Gallery

"Last summer, we forgot about the June Gloom and the Dreary July because we were unseasonably sunny with the El Niño influence not allowing any low clouds or fog to form," explains KPIX 5 meteorologist Roberta Gonzales.

And, while this is a normal summertime weather pattern, July has been cooler.

"High temps are cooler than average due to a trough to the north of the Bay Area which is enhancing the marine layer daily as we head into the weekend. While last week we experienced temperatures up to 20 degrees above average in some locations (Inland), this week we are gently below average, but generally the gloomy summer weather is to be expected in San Francisco and along the Coast," said Gonzales.

It was especially noticeable on the holiday. As fog obscured the July Fourth fireworks displays, locals bundled up in winter jackets to brave the cold. My wife and son gave up trying to watch the pyrotechnics from our lawn chairs on an East Bay hill, and sat in the minivan, still wearing their winter coats, sweatshirts, and the blankets we'd brought.

My girls and I did our patriotic duty, braving the cold for another 5 more minutes before giving up and joining them. At home, we turned the heater on, and watched a filtered view of illegal fireworks out our bedroom window before turning in.

The quote incorrectly attributed to Mark Twain says, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

It's actually almost illegal to write a summer weather story about San Francisco without using that quote, so I had to get it in. And, since everyone seems to be using it this month in any conversation about the weather, let's add some accuracy.

Snopes clarifies that, "Searches of Twain writings, private letters, and other publications fail to locate this witticism. The closest resemblance to it appears in an 1879 letter in which Twain quoted a wag who, when asked if he'd ever seen such a cold winter, replied, "Yes, last summer." Twain then added his own comment,'"I judge he spent his summer in Paris.'"

So, use it at will, just know Twain didn't say it.

In fact, now, we can ALL say WE said it, as it feels rather true this week.

The weather data used in this story is from the National Weather Service's climate portal, looking at Downtown SF's station reports.

The localized cool down isn't to be misinterpreted though. Globally, we continue to get hotter and hotter, with 2016 forecast to be the hottest year on record.