We're just past the midpoint of July in San Francisco, and not only has the weather mostly proven itself to be as crappy and cold as July often is here (though not last year), but we're faced with near daily reports of atrocities at the hands of terrorists abroad, deaths of civilians at the hands of police, deaths of police at the hands of angry civilians, devastating and scary weather events around the country, and the godforsaken Republican National Convention this week in Cleveland. Pissed off Americans across the country are protesting the actions of police, and pissed off liberals will be protesting and/or rioting all week in Cleveland which, at least in the case of this NSFW protest of 100 nude women outside the convention center Sunday morning, will maybe provide a bit of comic/ironic relief.
So, I'm calling it. July 2016 is officially the worst. And at the risk of sounding like a spoiled whiner given the fact that it could definitely be much worse (wildfires, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, the actual Rapture), this incessant fog encasing the city while virtually every other part of the Bay Area is 20 or 30 degrees warmer has gotten to me, it's gotten to just about everyone I know, and while some people are no doubt grateful not to be sweltering in LA or New York right now and arriving at work drenched in your own sweat, there is something about a placid, hot, sunny July day that would alleviate at least a little bit some of the misery being heaped upon us hourly by the news.
According to Weather Underground, the center and western parts of the city won't even see 60 degrees at any point until the weekend, and if we're lucky, we'll have highs hovering around 63/64 degrees into early next week. Whoopee.
Look. I've lived here over a decade and a half. This is not my first July rodeo. But if I'm going to speak about the weather it has to be with the firm conviction that this particular July is shittier and colder and more awful than most on several levels.
The same way July in New York drives people to make desperate escapes as early as they possibly can every single Friday to someplace outside the city where they're not being alternately steamed, baked, or furnace-roasted all day long, July in SF forces many of us to seek out warmth and sunshine every weekend however we can. And, no, suffering through chilly nights and temperate, foggy days should not be compared to suffering through acts of violence or terrorism and I am making no such comparison.
But enough already. We've already hit low temperatures this month that SF doesn't typically hit until February, and that's just fucking ridiculous.
If you don't hear from me and my phone goes dead, don't worry. I'm just in deepest Sonoma County or lounging in Livermore getting a sunburn, and I probably just dropped my phone in the pool.
Related: S.F. Summer Guide: The 10 Quickest Ways To Escape The Fog
Ask A San Francisco Native: Has The Fog Always Been Named Karl?