SMH. You know you're drinking the Kool Aid when you try and go neighborhood by neighborhood. SF is terrible, Oakland/Berkeley better but not much (Berkeley gets nailed by the finger coming straight in from the GG Bridge) If you grew up somewhere else where summer meant putting your coat away for 3 months then "Two blocks over here the wind is still biting but the sun is out" isn't much of a consolation. Now, if you hate heat, as some do, then it's wonderful. I just think SF has a fantastic climate April/May and Sept/Nov. Folks need to realize though that there are big trade offs living there. No beach and always needing to have warm clothes if you leave your house for more than a few hours in case the fog comes in.
I don't know what you mean. The microclimates there are just a fact of life. The sunset is going to be cooler and foggier than the Mission simply because of the topography. Berkeley and Oakland are actually 10 degrees warmer with only occasional fog all year round. The whole area gets like 300 days of sun per year. I just wonder where people are from when they say that the bay areas weather is "terrible." It seems highly relative. For reference, I've lived in Minneapolis, Tokyo, Tucson, Atlanta, Boston and NYC and thought SF's weather was better than all of those places. They all had at least one season where it was miserable to be outside.
Given we're talking about the weather some of this is in jest. And you've somewhat turned this around as "what do you mean the weather is terrible". I was objecting to the "the weather in SF is fantastic!" crowd who blow by Mark Twain's keen observation. Places I have lived for more than a year include the Bay Area, Boston, Melbourne Australia, Istanbul, Chapel Hill, London. I found the fog to be very annoying as I had to manage to the weather constantly there.
If you're talking about "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.", Twain never actually said it: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/twain.asp
Hop in a car or on BART on the weekend, go 15-20min east and you can hike in the sun or wander around Berkeley/Oakland in warm weather. That said, March to April/early May and Sept-Nov are generally quite glorious.
Fog is a nice to have, you can always travel a short bit to avoid it.
SF weather is awesome: ~50-75 all year round with specific neighborhoods that stay warm and sunny all the time if you're into that sort of thing. Heavenly compared to Pittsburgh, Boston, NYC, or DC.
The summer's are miserable with fog. It's as annoying as snow or sleet.
Bizarre claim. Also, avoiding fog is simple: move to a different neighborhood.
And let's not forget that DC during the latter part of summer is swamp-like, with high humidity and 80-90 degree weather. The city largely shuts down in August.
