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I heard Stanford has the perfect weather: sunny. But my question is... is it sunny ALL-YEAR ROUND? I love the rain and would miss it. Does it lightning and thunder there?

(I understand this may be a strange question, so I appreciate any comments!)

By Madelinemay11 (Madelinemay11) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 12:05 am: Edit

The winters are nice in the Bay Area...the grass goes from brown to green, and it rains moderately in the winter..not much lightning.

Summertime in the bay area is also great, but
once you get out of the bay area and into Sacramento (70 miles inland), temperature sky rockets. It's tooo hot, almost like in the Mojave or Vegas....but if you stay in the santa clara ->Palo alto region, it's pretty nice.

By Aim78 (Aim78) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 12:13 am: Edit

Gets cool and cloudy in the winter and very rainy some weeks. The rest of the year is sunny. Don't worry, Christmas still feels like Christmas. It's nice and cool. It can get very cold and very hot during the year, but for the most part it stays in the 70's-80's.

By Im_Blue (Im_Blue) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 12:56 am: Edit

It's rained about a total of 2 days since March, but there's a lot more during winter.

By Jlq3d3 (Jlq3d3) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 01:43 am: Edit

Rains quite a lot during nov-march, with 50s and 60s, and 30s-40s are night. Spring and fall are mostly dry and nice. Summer can get hot.

By Efilsiertaeht (Efilsiertaeht) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 02:45 am: Edit

actually it rained the entire week up till april 21st, and then the skies miraculously cleared for admit weekend. I was fairly impressed, after having been worried that a rainy admit would for sure scare people away.

By Amylase (Amylase) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 03:34 am: Edit

Cape Hope should be the place for lightning.

By Samueladams (Samueladams) on Sunday, September 05, 2004 - 12:18 pm: Edit

Look up the averages (temp, rainfall). I did awhile ago, highs go from something like 60-80 all year, obviously the nights are colder though. I was also told it rains a lot, practically all the time in the bay area. Upon looking at the averages, the 3 months during the winter considered to be the *rainy season*, had average rainfalls per month that I experience EVERY month of the year here in NY. Keep in mind that the other 9 months of the year all had rainfalls of an inch or less per month or something. If that sounds good to you you're thinking correctly.

By Patient (Patient) on Sunday, September 05, 2004 - 03:02 pm: Edit

I grew up in southern California and went to college in Massachusetts and settled in northern California 30 years ago. We are having a two-day heat wave this weekend, with the fog having dissipated along the coast--it is in the 90s in Palo Alto. Other than that we have had the most delightful summer--highs in the 70s and low 80s, cool nights. In late September or early October you may have a few more days like this but then it will cool off. Stanford looks beautiful in the fall because there are pepper trees planted around campus that turn the most glorious shades of orange/yellow/peach. Of course, it is NOTHING like fall in Vermont or New Hampshire, but to me it is enough to give some comfort to those who miss that.

Since I grew up in southern California which is much drier, it feels like we have a rainy season up here, and it also gets frosty a lot at night in December/January, but it is nothing compared to anything in the East. I think it is just enough variety to keep you from getting completely tired of near-perfect weather! some years, though you get teased with a beautiful early spring and then all of sudden it starts to rain in March and it rains until mid-May (off and on of course). That is about as bad a winter/spring as we get.

By Collegebound123 (Collegebound123) on Monday, September 06, 2004 - 11:13 pm: Edit

Does it ever snow?

By Jlq3d3 (Jlq3d3) on Tuesday, September 07, 2004 - 01:04 am: Edit

no, it never snows at Stanford.

By Aim78 (Aim78) on Tuesday, September 07, 2004 - 01:19 am: Edit

Might hail now and then, but that's no fun. This weekend has been insanely hot. Horrible.

By Patient (Patient) on Tuesday, September 07, 2004 - 01:33 am: Edit

As I said in another thread, it snowed for an hour or so one time in 1976...long before any of you guys were born! And about once every other year or so, it may snow(dusting of snow) in the foothills about 20 minutes above Stanford, and sometimes people go up there to build little snowmen and have snowball fights.

The Sierra Nevada mountains are about 3-4 hours away--and they are magnificent and have some of the best skiing anywhere, so don't worry you can spend time in the snow without too much trouble if you miss it too much. Once you are an alum, there is even a "Stanford Alpine Chalet" inn at Alpine Meadows, near Lake Tahoe....

By Efilsiertaeht (Efilsiertaeht) on Tuesday, September 07, 2004 - 05:24 am: Edit

It also snowed in 1957 or so in Palo Alto... when my dad was little. :-)