East/West Climates

Take the weather in Rochester ... please.

California definitely has the edge in this contest, especially on the cool, central coast. Monterey Peninsula temperatures average between 45 – 70^o F, year-round (yes, that includes winter and summer), whereas Rochester, has a more turbulent average of 18 - 80 ^o F. Rochester’s true climate picture is more accurately painted with its highs and lows. The historic low of -22 ^o F. was recorded in 1934 and the mercury rose to 102 ^o F. in 1936. That’s a range of 124 degrees, compared to Monterey where temperatures don’t vary more than 25 degrees on average, year-round.

On the other hand, Rochester has real weather with abrupt and dramatic changes of seasons. Weather you can sink your teeth into. The landscape turns brown on the CA central coast early in May when the rain simply stops for six months. Sure, you can plan a picnic or an outdoor wedding without fear of a cloud burst, but you can’t wash your car, water your lawn or have a glass of water in a restaurant without asking for it. The entire countryside goes into dormancy.

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

John Ruskin
English - Writer 1819 - 1900

With no rain, artichoke farmers along the coast must pull water from the aquifers, creating a vacuum that sucks in ocean saltwater, poisoning the soil and requiring even deeper wells to find uncontaminated irrigation sources.

On the surface, lack of rain allows fires to rage causing massive damage. Last year was the state’s worst fire season ever. A total of 9,133 fires burned 1,381,405 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, including five of the 20 most destructive wildland-urban interface fires in the state's history. Throughout the year, fires destroyed 9,470 homes and other structures, more than the previous nine years combined. Wildfires killed 43 people – 41 civilians and 2 firefighters – almost higher than the previous 10 years combined.

Although fires subside drastically when the rainy season begins in late fall, the damage they have caused continues as flooding and mudslides ravage the hills and mountainsides that have been laid bare by fire.

In comparison with the golden state’s record, Rochester’s weather doesn’t seem quite so bad.