Within a season. The east coast has four seasons; California has two: a 9-month warm, dry season and a 3-month cool, wet one. Seeing rain during the dry season is always a surprise, and people complain how weird the weather is. (Of course it does happen a few times, but always accompanied by wailing and gnashing of teeth.) During the winter, light rain a few times a week is permissible. And it's still not actually cold.
When I moved out east this year I was shocked that nobody here seems to know what the weather's like on the west coast. I suppose that's because it's never covered in the national news.
There's more to CA than the coast and the valleys. There's also mountains.
If you want snow, the Sierras, which are two hours away from the SF Bay Area, get 20-40 FEET a year, with a 10+ foot snow pack. http://www.eldoradocountyweather.com/donner.html isn't even the place that gets the most snow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_climate
When I moved out east this year I was shocked that nobody here seems to know what the weather's like on the west coast. I suppose that's because it's never covered in the national news.