Yes yes, I know this is nothing compared to so many snow covered "real winter" places. My favorite Christmas card came from beloveds at Denali National Park in Alaska who say that the "only lights they see right now are the aurora borealis kind." Sounds so magical, but brrrrr! Good thing they are snow people.
Still, within our own range of expected temperatures, it is cold right now, so naturally my thoughts turn to microclimate. Let us review what makes a home location colder or warmer within the range we expect here in the San Francisco Bay Area. We all know this intuitively somewhat, but I love to spell it out because I am a microclimate real estate nerd.
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| Wikipedia |
Elevation: Cold air sinks. Besides being blocked from the sun by the surrounding hills, bottoms of valleys are where the cold air sits, and they are the first to frost. Large buildings can also act as hills creating canyon light and weather regimes.
Aspect: the direction the land faces determines how much light/heat it gets throughout the day, depending on the time of year.
Proximity to large bodies of water: The ocean and San Francisco Bay have a moderating effect on the temperature. Closer to them it does not get as hot or as cold as it does farther away.
If you seek a frosty location for say, peony growing, a valley blocked from the immediate maritime influence might suit you. In that case you'll ideally want to be on the south facing slope, in a solid house with a thrifty furnace. Wherever you choose to live, there will be microclimate variables. If you want to grow things, you'll factor in the climate needs for your priority plants. If you're not a plant person, you'll still want to contemplate your personal warmth and light and wind (or lack thereof) preferences.
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| NBC Bay Area Weather |
So again I say, it's a great time of year to be sussing out locations. No need to intellectualize it, your body will understand individual microclimates just fine.
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