Coldest spring in Sonoma County? Not quite as officials say low temps didn’t set records

The cooler weather that has lasted well into mid-year has many on social media wondering if this has been the coldest spring on record in the region.

A Reddit user identified as Bleezington posted this week that they were eagerly awaiting warmer weather in April following bouts of freezing temperatures and rain in the early part of the year, but their hopes were quickly dashed.

“Here we are knocking on June’s door, and it’s still looking like this. Weird, foggy, frigid all day weather,” the Reddit user wrote Wednesday.

While historical weather data shows it was the coldest spring in more than a decade, it didn’t set a record.

“We are definitely seeing cooler than normal temperatures,” said Rick Canepa, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Monterey office.

In Santa Rosa, the average temperature for the 2023 meteorological spring, the period between March 1 and May 31, was 55.4 degrees, Canepa said.

It’s the coldest spring recorded since 2011, when the average temperature for the three-month period was 54.4 degrees, despite a handful of warm days in early April and over Mother’s Day weekend.

The record low, since records were first tracked in 1902, was 51.7 degrees in 1917.

Canepa said while inland areas have experienced noticeably cooler temperatures this year, the most dramatic cooling effects have been seen along the coast.

The North Bay, San Francisco, Oakland and Half Moon Bay have experienced one of the coldest springs on record with daily low temperatures setting or tying long-held records in late March.

Canepa said low pressure systems that have brought clouds, wind and even rain and sea temperatures cooler than normal have contributed to the weather patterns.

Cloud cover and fog that result from the differences in ocean water temperatures and air temperatures, known as the marine layer, have helped keep temperatures down, he said.

The cooler weather isn’t likely to last through the summer, though.

The National Weather Service forecasts a 33% to 40% chance of above-normal temperatures through August for much of California.

When the region will see temperatures start to climb will depend on how soon a high pressure system that can cause temperatures to steadily heat up moves into the area.

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or paulina.pineda@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @paulinapineda22.