San Francisco summers have long been infamous for their deep layers of fog and chilly temperatures, even when the rest of the Bay Area is baking hot. But as climate change continues to warm the planet, summer in the city has started to evolve with real summer heat, diminishing fog and more of those rare July and August evenings where you don’t need to carry a jacket.
Since 1970, the average temperature from June to August in downtown San Francisco has warmed 1.1 degrees. And at San Francisco Airport over the same period, it’s warmed by 2.2 degrees, according to Daniel McEvoy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The warming may sound minimal, and San Francisco has some natural defenses against extreme heat, but there may still be substantial impacts ahead…