When I first moved to San Francisco I knew the old saying "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco blah blah blah" And call me crazy but I envisioned this frozen concrete jungle to be resting under clear skies. Calm and still blue skies - the kind you see in the dead of Winter in San Diego when the temperature drops to a chilling 59 degrees and yet there is still not a cloud in the sky. Why would it be any different in San Francisco? This is after all the same state, and California DOES have a reputation for good weather.
But the very first day we moved in it was gray, overcast and cold. In my naivete I assumed this was a fluke. A freak summer day. And that day turned into a week and that week turned into a month and that month turned in to a year and fuck me, its foggy here.
It took close to six months before I realized that just five minutes up the 280 North, it was sunny. And not just a patch of blue sky here and there, but a decipherable line in the sky between the sun and the fog. This is the beauty of the San Francisco microclimates. Downtown can be having a heat wave and at our house we are wondering if our plants will survive without natural light.
This weather really suits some people. The jacket wearers, the over heaters. But it doesn't really suit me. Not after a glorious sunny childhood in Southern California and a brief stop over in hot NorCal. It was after a year here that I realized, the lack of sun was really bringing me down. And another year before I readily admitted that, yes, the dreary climate was directly affecting my mood and my energy level.
But then I got a new job and began traveling a whole 15 minutes to work and it seriously felt like driving into Florida each and every day. Hello Sunshine. Though the building was sort of awkward it was situated right on the Bay and had some cool views. Best of all it was almost always sunny because San Bruno Mountain held the fog back until the evening.
When we moved offices about a month ago we moved ONE FREEWAY EXIT South. One exit down the freeway and we are back in the fog. Granted, from the office we can see the line between the sun and the fog, we are just on the dark side of the two.
Somehow though, being able to see the blue sky is enough. If I feel really deprived I can take a five minute walk and be back in the sun and by the water. I also take comfort in the fact that there is photographic evidence of my plight....Proof I tell you! (click on the photos for specific photo credit as none of these are mine)
(Flickr)
(Panoramio)
(Flickr)
(Flickr)
