Many people are disappointed celebrating Independence Day in San Francisco because the weather tends to depress the visual nature of the event, but some of us remain big fans of fireworks in the fog. Each colorful explosion is refracted across half the sky. And the foghorns definitely add to the soundtrack.
The people you feel sorry for are the tourists: Yea! We’re going to California for the summer. (Hah, no. You’re going to experience Fogust surrounded by air-conditioned hills.) Then they get here and have to buy an Alcatraz hoodie down at the wharf. Confused, having been betrayed by both the map and the calendar, they look at you like you withheld this vital information on purpose. But there is no fog omertà. Just ask and everyone will graciously whisper our real summer, if it comes, is in September and October. Sometimes.
Although, if blue is the hue you aspire to, San Francisco has a beach or two that is calling you. And if you want 20 degrees warmer just drive 20 miles in any direction (except west). And 30 might get you 30, etc., all the way up to 50/50. Depends on whether the heat dome is cradling the Central Valley as is its nature. And exactly when did we start having to worry about them?
So there you have it: the San Francisco summer primer. Just like everything, it’s a little different here. Not better or worse, just different. O.K., better.
