Paso Robles HOT???
 

With our first "hot" day here in the East - 78 degrees with 62% humidity - my husband and I realize how much we hate the heat.

We're investigating retiring in CA, and someone mentioned to stay away from Paso Robles and Atascadero (2 choices I had on my list due to the low cost, the developing wine country, etc.) if we hated the heat.

But according to weather.com, it's 85 degrees in Santa Rosa right now, and 79 degrees in Paso Robles.

Am I missing something, or does Paso Robles just heat up later in the year?

They're both horribly hot, we just haven't hit summer here yet.

Try "it heats up later in the day".

Central Valley temps do tend to be quite high-- but remember that humidity will also be relatively low. Last I checked, it was around 85 in Paso Robles with 24% humidity. Very comfy, I think.

You should be looking at average temps, not just current conditions. The southern half of the state has had slightly cooler-than-normal temps this past week, but it looks like that will be passing.

I personally would think more about the central coast-- San Luis Obispo is still relatively affordable and a very nice place to live.

Paso and Atascadero have their share of 100+ days each summer. They are blocked from the coastal cooling by the mountains. Humidity is quite low, though, and summer evenings are very nice. You would find the areas on the coast side of the mountains more comfortable if you don't like the heat; places like Los Osos, Arroyo Grande, SLO, Cambria, ...

Thanks everyone. I guess my main question is - if anyone knows - are Santa Rosa/Petaluma as hot (or hotter?) than Paso Robles?

I was led to believe Paso Robles was VERY hot, which is seems from these posts it is, but if today's temps are any indication, Santa Rosa/Petaluma/Napa are even hotter!!

Is that correct?

You can't really evaluate summer temps by one day or even series of days.
Petaluma & Napa and SR.from May to mid Sept. will have lots of hightemps no more than 80..usually AM start out at 60 or 62 and by 7-8 Pm down to 70s. often a cool breeze.
I have lived in these areas for 40 yrs and have NEVER noticed ""humidity"
Well maybe once or twice in Sept if we had a thunder storm. It is very rare for these valleys to have rain storms in summer.Although I do remember 4th of July a few years ago when it rained all afternoon. When we do have a "hot spell" it follows a pattern...a 76 to 80 day,next
85 to 88, 90-94,then 96 to 100--then the oceans breeze comes in and its down to the mid 80s for 2 to 5 days and the pattern repeats. The"100s "are fairly infrequent.. maybe one to 3 days a month. Central Valley temps, which are somewhat like the "2" towns, can have numerous days (10-15 a month) of 100 and above with "cooling" down to75-85 in evening...
Please NOTE--this year so far has not followed our usual pattern..April and 1/2 of May it didn't get over 70..
I hate hot weather and believe me I would only live in the first 2 towns you mentioned..if I had A/C and could go to the coast on extrememly hot days.
It is only a few miles over to the coast--Morro Bay, Cambria Los Osos Are wonderful.Of course the housing costs are sky high. As are Napa and even Petaluma and SR. so maybe the '2" towns make more sense after all !!!! ::)
You didn't ask about weather other timesof the year???

Keep in mind that any place that wine grapes are grown, there needs to be hot weather part of the year. Paso Robles is no exception.

I'd opt for Paso Robles over Atascadero, unless you consider a ranch style home in the west valley area of Atascadero.

The housing prices definitely go up the closer you get to the coast line. San Luis Obispo is just inline enough to experience some pretty hot temps during the summer months. But you're a very short drive from Avila Beach. Unfortanately the housing prices have skyrocketed in this region in the past few years.

Cambria might be a good choice for you. It's around a 50 minute drive in to San Luis Obispo and attracts a lot of artists and retirees. There are homes in the forest like areas, as well as along the coast line. While the prices have continued to increase, the prices are still more reasonable than lower (Morro Bay, Shell Beach) and higher (Big Sur and Monterey) coastal areas.

Always bear in mind that the southern half of California is technically "desert", so it's always relatively dry. I noticed "high" humidity during the day this past weekend around where I live (Long Beach)-- and it couldn't have been more than 40-50% (but probably around 90% in the early morning). sightseer is exactly right: Wine production, like olive production, depends on a dry Mediterranean-like climate.

The advice you're getting on areas to settle is spot-on. It ain't cheap, but you will have a lovely retirement out here in California.

Hi Wanderer

If your question is " I guess my main question is - if anyone knows - are Santa Rosa/Petaluma as hot (or hotter?) than Paso Robles?"
I have friends, that I visit, in Petaluma and some in Paso Robles the general answer is it is hotter in Paso Robles than Petaluma

Have Fun
GP

I have a theory that you can tell a lot about the hot weather of various areas in CA by how many houses have A/C. If you look at real estate listings and see that nearly every house has some form of A/C, that area gets pretty hot. If people don't bother to put in A/C on their $500,000 house, the weather is pretty good. Most of CA cools off pretty sharply at night, even if it is hot during the day.

Thanks again to everyone. Good point about the air-conditioned (or not) houses. I noticed that nearly every house I looked at on the web was listed with air.

I guess we'll keep to Petaluma, Santa Rosa, SLO, and Marina/Seaside as our choices to visit and decide what suits us best - weather and lifestyle/ambience-wise.

We like the cool nights, but being retired would like to spend our days outside playing tennis and the like. Hence the "not too hot" wish for climate.

I didn't ask about other times of the year as someone mentioned - I know about the rainy season for several months in Petaluma and Santa Rosa, and know about the fog and coolness in Seaside/Marina. Have heard only good things about SLO, so anxious to visit, but I am surprised everyone says it is not that expensive. From everything I've seen it is very expensive compared to Santa Rosa and Petaluma unless you buy a condo.

Thanks again.

Hi, We lived in San Luis Obispo for eight years and loved it. Summer weather is sunny and warm (80's) during the day and cools off in the evenings. Fog rolls in each night but burns off by 10:00am or so. Los Osos, Morro Bay, Cambria, Pismo Beach are all within a short drive of SLO and are considerably cooler being on the coast but remain "fogged in" for a much longer time (like 2:00 or 3:00 in afternoon) during the summer. Fall months are the warmest and no fog. Paso and Atascadero are "up the grade" and get very minimal fog but temps of 100+ for summer and fall. "Housing prices in SLO have gone up to keep in step with southern California, and I wouldn't say it is an inexpensive place to live, but it's a beautiful area, with lots of "retirement" activities to do and friendly people.

Bear in mind that the Santa Rosa/Petaluma area is really part of the SF Bay Area nowadays (used to be distinctly separated, no longer.) So to some degree you're mixing apples and oranges - the central coast area is not especially "metropolitan" in comparison.

Both areas are inland valleys and can get quite warm in the summer, which runs locally more from July-September rather than June-August. Often the hottest times of the year are September or even early October.

I think the Sonoma Co. towns are less likely to get as hot for as long as Paso Robles & vicinity, where I've felt on occasion that my tires were going to melt.

We will be in Sonoma October 18-24th. We plan to visit Petaluma and Santa Rosa at that time.

Will that time of the year give us a good idea of the heat?

Actually, wanderer, it won't. The last two weeks of October in Petaluma/Santa Rosa might be warm to hot in the afternoons, but nowhere nearly the heat of the high summer months. Plus, by autumn, it is cooling down in the evenings much more. As someone who used to spend weekends in Petaluma, I did observe that there is a mist which rises over the Petaluma River sometimes (it's nothing like S.F. fog) which keeps the actual town a little cooler than its neighbors.

Go to the Weather Channel web site and look up the historical average and record temperatures and the rainfall data and you'll have much more accurate information than you will get relying on a few people's perceptions about what is or isn't hot, etc.
With a little searching, you might find out about the humidity as well.
Good luck.

The Weather Channel's averages give you emprical data, sure-- but I would gently disagree with an assertion that visitors' and inhabitants' personal observations are not valuable. Especially given that California is a patchwork of countless microclimates that can cause wild temperature variations within a couple of miles distance. A bar chart of means, extremes and statistical norms isn't as meaningful for me as a citizen of a particular city pointing out that X neighborhood always has A/Cs running in summer, while no one uses theirs in Y neighborhood.

Wow rjw, I feel like I need an advanced degree in weather to read your post.

From what I can understand though I do agree. From one side of town to the other the weather can be measurably different depending on ratio of open space to asphalt.

Sorry, Suzie-- I was slogging through some stats explanations I had written for a client and got a bit carried away.

But you got the gist of it. :)

I live about 2/3 of a mile from the beach in Long Beach. Walking from my condo to the shore, even on a windless day, I can feel a small temperature difference-- and the little outside temp gauge on my car confirms it. I can drive maybe 2 miles toward downtown LB, and the temp can vary another couple of degrees.

It's just how California is. And what makes it a daily challenge and delight for everyone living here...!

Thank you, thank you, RJW, I think you know exactly what I mean. I had looked at weather.com averages ages ago, but didn't see temps like that posted for yesterday's and today's weather.

With our first East Coast heat wave in the high 80s, low 90s with 65% humidity, it reminded me how much I hate the heat!

All I was looking for really, since tolerance of heat is different for everyone, was a general sense that Paso Robles in general is much hotter than SLO area, but not more so than Santa Rosa.

As I mentioned, Paso Robles and Atascadero have much much lower RE prices, but I don't want to live in a place I can't bear to be outside 3 months of the year - may as well stay back East. If Santa Rosa/Petaluma are not nearly as hot (in general), we would prefer that area, I believe.

Likewise, we were looking for comparisons between weather in SLO/Arroyo Grande and Santa Rosa/Petaluma.

The last area on our "list" - Marina and Seaside (we can't afford Carmel or Monterey, unfortunately), we think we have a good sense of - foggier, and much cooler with more rain than Central Coast or Wine Country.