San Jose, California

Climate

San Jose, like most of the Bay Area, has a Mediterranean climate tempered by the presence of the San Francisco Bay. Unlike San Francisco, which is exposed to the ocean or Bay on three sides and whose temperature therefore varies relatively little year-round and overnight, San Jose lies more inland, protected on three sides by mountains. This shelters the city from rain and makes it more of a semiarid, near-desert area, with a mean annual rainfall of only 14.4 inches (366 mm), compared to some other parts of the Bay Area, which can get up to four times that amount. It also avoids San Francisco's omnipresent fog most of the year.

Related Topics:
Mediterranean climate - San Francisco - Semiarid

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However, temperatures are generally moderate. January's average high is 59 °F (15 °C) and average low is 42 °F (6 °C), with overnight freezes several nights each year; July's average high is 84 °F (29 °C) and average low is 58 °F (14 °C), with heat exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) several days each year. The highest temperature ever recorded in San Jose was 109 °F (42.8°C); the lowest was 21 °F (-6 °C). Temperatures between night and day can vary by 30 or 40 °F (17 to 22 °C).

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With the light rainfall, San Jose experiences over 300 days a year of full or significant sunshine. Rain occurs primarily in the months from October through April or May, with hardly any rainfall from June through September. During the winter, hillsides and fields turn green with native grasses and vegetation, although deciduous trees are bare; with the coming of the annual summer dry period, the vegetation dies and dries, giving the hills a golden cover, which some find beautiful but which also provides fuel for frequent grass fires.

Related Topics:
Deciduous - Grass fire

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The snow level drops as low as 2,000 ft (610 m) above sea level occasionally each winter, coating nearby Mount Hamilton, and less frequently the Santa Cruz Mountains, with light snow that seldom lasts a day. This sometimes snarls traffic travelling on State Route 17 towards Santa Cruz. Snow fell on the valley floor in San Jose most recently in January of 1976, about an inch (25 mm) that melted soon after the sun rose.

Related Topics:
Snow - State Route 17 - Santa Cruz - 1976

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Again, like most of the Bay Area, San Jose is made up of dozens of microclimates. Downtown San Jose experiences the lightest rainfall in the city, while South San Jose, only 10 miles (16 km) distant, experiences more rainfall and slightly more extreme temperatures.

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