<p>I'm from seattle and pretty much clueless to what sort of climate would be in norcal year round. From visiting i know it's great in october and then in the mid to late spring, but not so sure during the winter months. Is it rainy and dismally cloudy as seattle during this time? please help as i am deciding between Cal and San Diego, and though the reputation is great the Socal weather is appealing for this rain city girl. Any thoughts? is it bearable?</p>
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<p>Yes. It’s rainy for ~4 months out of the year. I like it–except when it leaks into my house through my broken windowpane.</p>
<p>If your choice is coming down to weather, go to San Diego. Best climate in North America…</p>
<p>I grew up in a place with Seattle-like climate and Berkeley does not even come close. It only rains off and on here for about three months out of the year, and in general the winds are not too strong. So don’t worry, you’ll get more than enough of that California sunshine to keep you happy, especially at the beginning of the school year.</p>
<p>(People actually from SoCal are going to disagree with me, but if you’re coming from Seattle, it should definitely be a change for the sunnier. Besides, it’s boring to only get rain three days out of the year…)</p>
<p>Mmmm Berkeley has NorCal, bay weather (yes, there is a difference from NorCal inland weather). The warm, sunny months go from March to October (Indian summer), but because it’s in the bay, there is a very nice Pacific breeze (although notably, not as much as San Francisco b/c berkeley is protected by the peninsula). So while inland you’d bake, at Berkeley it might hit 90 but there’ll be a mild breeze. </p>
<p>November to February are the cooler months. The amount of rainfall depends on the year. Currently we are in a drought, so we haven’t been getting much rain, but this year was the start of a new El Nino cycle, so we got more rain than the past couple of years. Nowhere near as much rain as Seattle though. Typically there are storms that last from a day to a week, and then there’s a break of mild sun and cold weather (daytime highs can range from 50s to 60s).</p>
<p>Just get used to the weather being bipolar. I swear, one day, it was raining like there was no tomorrow. The next day (or the day before… you know what I mean), it was hella clear, sunny, and warm.</p>
<p>that was just kinda this year because of the restart of El Nino. we had storms blowing in from the pacific and apparently there was an odd Arctic front this year in the U.S. Through El Nino, the weather is usually bipolar in the winter (I remember the last time we had a cycle, we got a few remnants of typhoons from Asia–blew down a few trees in my front yard, and then we had mild days). When there’s no El Nino, the weather really isn’t that bipolar…especially with the drought we’re having (not this past winter, but the winter before it, I swear we only had some 2 weeks of legit rain…and then the water supply utilities told us that it was only enough to remoisten the ground and give us a little refill in our reservoirs).</p>
<p>i live near berkeley, and i would choose it over san diego any day. the weather is very mild year-round, and you might have days in the winter where you can wear shorts, and in the summer you might need a sweatshirt. i rarely need to wear more than 2 layers here though. berkeley is also a much more interesting area than san diego.</p>
<p>Thanks! thats good to know. ive visited san fran many times and always found it so exciting, though people say san diego is really cutting edge and fun, but definitely swaying towards cal knowing that the weather can live up to cali expectations, lol</p>
<p>Unlike Seattle in the winter when it is grey most of the time and the rain is more of a constant drizzle, the Bay Area has plenty of sunny winter days. And when it rains, it RAINS.</p>
<p>oakland has great weather. berkeley gets a bit more summer fog off the bay, but still has pretty good weather. I was just down in San Diego, and it was warm, but very hazy/smoggy.</p>
<p>but beyond the weather, there are big cultural differences between So Cal and No Cal. So, choose wisely (and go bears!)</p>