It wouldn't hurt to have the down coat with him. Remember, we are only a few hours from ski areas, and he may be invited on a trip to the snow.

Well - he isn't going to ski in a knee length down coat anyway. By MA standards, San Jose will be downright balmy. Warm isn't the issue - dry is. It can be foggy/drizzly/rainy.

I'd have him just take the fleece jacket and go to the Milpitas outlets or a Macy's sale IF he decides he needs something more later on . . . .

...I'm just so impressed he'd listen to you about what to wear!
My 20 year old son (we live in Oakland) wears flip flops and shorts year round in Olympia ,WA where he goes to school. Go figure!

Leave the down coat at home. I live in Oakland and rarely need more than a lightweight jacket or sweater all winter. When it rains, you need an umbrella rather than more layers.
If he likes down, a down vest should do fine for warmth; as stated above, he can find that or any other needed clothes at one of the many malls,discount, or outlet stores here IF needed.
Congratulations to your son!! He'll likely love the Bay Area, which should make both of you happy and excited for his internship! Two places (of many) nr him that are great fun are the University Ave area of Palo Alto, and Castro Street in Mountain View.

Congratulations on the internship. I'm certain you're proud of his accomplishments.

The valley can get cold in DEC and JAN. We're talking only 30F. Depending on what mode of transportation he will use in Sunnyvale, he just might need that down coat. It also could be an issue of the corporate culture into which he will be inserted.

Remember that this was farming before it was technology and housing tracts. This Means There Are Two Things to Consider: (1) Sometimes point A to point B is a lengthy distance. Public transportation means more exposure to elements = bring all the coats. (2) Because Silicon Valley is suitable for farming, the weather isn't ever really that extreme.

I wear a pea coat or a drover on weekends and a nice overcoat when I'm suited up.
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Next question you will likely be asking is for affordable housing?? Maybe?? Median home price is 714,000. Condos can be had for 440,000. Supply and Demand are definitely in effect here.

Then again, maybe the internship includes temporary housing...?
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Also, regarding Oakland and it's micro-climate: I recently read that Oakland is one of the cities with the highest average temperatures. It's across the bay from S'vale. Not sure I would compare the weather between the two. Sunnyvale (and next door neighbor, Mountain View) gets a little windy at times. Oakland, too?

Sunnyvale public safety officers are firemen and policement. They alternate and serve both duties. Good to know in an emergency.

More bachelors per square mile in Sunnyvale than many other cities. Makes the singles game challenging for some men, but an abundance of (nerdy) choices for some women.

A great number of east indians, sri lankans, pakistanis, etc. have inserted themselves into Sunnyale because of the high number of engineering positions here. Talk about a culture clash.

If your son is into the technology field, many contacts can be made by simply talking to other shoppers at Fry's Electronics in S'vale.

I can't imagine living in the Bay area in only a sweater or light jacket. I freeze my a** off even in summer.

MLGB--LOL!! sorry to hear about your a*s in winter!!
Fehgeddaboutit( love that name, reminds me of my NY past) you make good points--that the weather in Bay Area really varies from place to place, one side of Bay to another. Somewhere I red that Oakland has the most perfect climate in the world?? (Good thing, cuz we have other worries, like our public school system.) Yes, it does get windy here. In fact, the winds were one of the reasons for that horrendously fast-spreading fire we had back in 1991.
Maybe it feels warm to me compared to those freezing cold bone-chilling winters i gew up in back East. Was thinking that since Sara's son is coming from Massachusetts, it'd feel to him, as it does to me, relatively and refreshingly "warm" in the Bay Area.

Oops. I meant "read" not "red." Pretty funny prior to a comment about our local school system. Blame my fingers--I'm the typo Queen from Queens!

OK...I take it back. If he gets an invitation to Squaw Valley or other Lake Tahoe places he may need a shorter down jacket. (I was NOT assuming he would be skiing). But that trip is probably an offchance.

So leave the knee-length down coat home. His lightweight fleece jacket will probably be just fine. I live on the coast, just about 25-30 miles from Sunnyvale and I wear a lightweight fleece jacket in the winter. (Also in the summer on a really foggy day <grin

Maybe a lightweight rain-proof windbreaker kind of thing might be a good idea.....but, then, he can get it here, if he needs one.

If he gets invited to a ski party at Squaw Valley in the dead of winter and ants to ski, he can rent the equipment, including the coat.

By the way, please congratulate you son for me, for this accomplishement, and tell him to take advantage of his California experience....aside from the job, that is.

Congrats to your son! I live in Sunnyvale, where I'm typing this at this very moment. The lifestyle here includes more outside activities than he's probably use to in MA, even in the fall and winter. For fall, he'll probably be fine with a light-weight jacket, because it's usually sunny and warm. When it starts to rain, probably next month, the weather can be chilly and damp, so he'll need something a little warmer, but definitely not a knee-length down coat. I usually wear a sleeveless down vest when it's clear or a rain slicker over a sweater when it's raining.

The idea about shopping at the Milpitas outlets is a good one. Why not let him pick out his own coat or jacket after he sees what his colleagues are wearing? When I moved from the East Coast (a zillion years ago), I found the styles here to be much less "preppy" than what I was used to.

I agree with the recommendations to have him bring a light fleece or whatever and then just buy whatever jacket(s) he needs once he gets here.

I have gotten by with only a fleece jacket (or business jacket) for years. It all depends on what you're going to be doing outside. I have a nice wool coat I bought while I was in graduate school because it was really cold walking between the buildings at night, but now that I'm mostly inside at night, not much need for the coat.

A fleece plus an outer shell (for rain and/or wind) should be sufficient.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. And thanks so much for your kind words and good wishes for my son. Yes, I am quite proud. We'll miss him, but this is a great opportunity for him. Actually, his older brother moved to Cupertino a few months ago, after graduating from college and getting a job there, so this son will stay with him, at least at first. Older brother hopes to move to San Francisco, though, when he can find the right living situation, so this son will need to find another place to stay when that happens. Hopefully, by then he'll either have met a co-worker he can rent a room from, or find someplace on Craig's List near his work that will be suitable.

Thanks also for the extra information on the area. I'm sorry to hear that there is a disparity in the balance of males and females in the valley - after a couple of years of attending an engineering school with a 2/1 male/female ratio, I suspect he was hoping for better odds there (maybe this is one reason why older brother would like to move? Aside from the obvious attraction of being in San Francisco, of course).

Now I have an even better excuse to try to take a trip to California in the next year!

I'm outside in Silicon Valley all day long for work - and I rarely wear more than the suit jacket or blazer or sweater that I wear inside when I get to my appointments.

My rain coat is unlined....and rarely used. Unless we have one of those hideous rainy seasons - every 7 to 10 years by my count - I usually just use an umbrella.

I have a Patagonia jacket for Tahoe. A vest for the beach.

Same for my family. It just does not get cold here.

By the time his brother moves to San Francisco your son will have made friends at work and I bet he will have no trouble finding a roommate.....but Craigslist is a fine second option.

The freedom to be outdoors so easily is really fun for anyone from the East Coast! He's going to love it!