Microclimates in Fogtown

Today in microclimate blather, we bring to you a video  from the Exploratorium's Science in the City. Most of what he is saying applies to Marin as well. Go over the other side of a hill from the coast, and you can usually get out of the fog. This spring and summer so far it's been mostly about wind.  Looks like warm and breezy for awhile, so make hay while the sun shines! For visual of the more or less real time wind situation, go to San Francisco Bay Wind Patterns. (This is a snapshot of June 27th I've inserted after realizing that since this image changes, linking to it on the site does not work.)

Pam Peirce sums it up pretty well too, and her book is really helpful to gardeners here. If you are in the real estate search, and you have dreams of growing food here, you may want to take a look. If you are set on tomatoes, I'd avoid purchasing property in most areas of 1,2,3 and 4, or else plan on a green house. Peas and chard and lettuce and kale grow great though. Same story in Marin. Forget tomatoes (maybe, in the most sheltered spots you'll have good luck with cherry tomatoes) in Bolinas, but on the east side of Tam have at it. Plenty of heat on the east side, especially in inland locations that lack direct gaps where wind and fog come through, like San Rafael and Novato.

Pam Peirce. Golden Gate Gardening: Year-Round Food Gardening in the San Francisco Bay Area and Coastal California. Sasquatch Books. 2002 

Happy Friday, whatever microclimate you find yourself in.

City Farmer News

Park Score, Chirp Score*

RolandNikles

The Trust for Public Lands recently introduced Parkscore, "with detailed profiles and interactive maps, ParkScore makes it easy to explore and compare city park systems from around the country"

Glen Canyon Park, SF

San Francisco ranked highest! Yet another reason it is wonderful to live here. Since this ranking system measures cities, Marin is not measured under Parkscore, but depending on who you listen too, the county is 50 to 90% open space, more than any other county in the SF Bay Area.

Gambolin' Man, Marin

Quality of life (health, ability to concentrate, etc) is so much higher when there is somewhere green to enjoy,  especially when you are also within walking, biking or a quick driving distance of the wonderful cultural amenities, and job opportunities, here.

*Thanks to Stacy Lamirand for "Chirp Score"

Spring Winds

GGNPC

Please forgive my blogging sloth, I've gotten just a little bit involved (bless all the busy bees who are doing the real work) in the run up to the big celebration for the Golden Gate Bridge's 75th birthday, and real estate has been very interesting and time consuming of late. Also my grand plan to summarize micro-climate by real estate zone has been a little more complex then I first realized. It is pretty easy to do for places one has lived, but is harder to summarize accurately based on visits, as it changes with the seasons and the level of intensity in the fog cycle. Of course now we are firmly in the spring wind upwelling cycle which can be a little exhausting, though it is the reason we have such abundant sea life all around us.

My new plan for the area's I have not lived to is take walks with local experts to confirm my theories. While I am obviously obsessed with microclimates, and hope to provide helpful guidance, it is always a good idea to chat up the neighbors when you are looking at property. If you are a gardener, look at what plants are flourishing in the immediate surroundings. Even if plants are not your thing - befriend that long time resident with the well established garden, they will know the climate better then almost anyone.

Kate Campbell

Today's brief microclimate summary: Using my cool Weather Underground app and clicking on the weather station icon (online works also)   I see that it is 57 degrees with 33 mph NW winds blowing (gusting to 45 I would wager) at the Outer Richmond weather station. It is 69 degrees with minimal wind in the Financial District. I can also hear the roar of the wind and creaking of the building I am in near the beach. You can bet it is howling at the bridge. Forecasts predict the wind will mellow before the party, but bring your layers if you're coming.

Anne+MathiasMywedding.com

Macro Microclimate

Sometimes it just comes down to foggy at the coast, and clear inland. Simple as that.

Everything more micro is nuance, as the fog, wind and topography do their dance. Happy Friday folks, hope your climate suits you this evening.

Photo via

Bill Martin 2Meteorologist

about an hour ago

"This is a Visible Satellite image. Most images you see are Infrared images which use tempertures to create clouds. Visible Satellites just flat out take a photo graph. "

"Affordable" Outer Richmond

While we're talking about the Richmond District, here's Curbed's latest, The Top Ten Least Expensive Properties For Sale in the Outer Richmond.

Curbed

and then there's that Super Moon:

RichmondSFBlog