← Back to Toolkit
The Local Toolkit · NorCal Microclimate Guide
NOAA · PRISM · Sunset
SAME DAY, DIFFERENT WORLDS

Why your Sacramento friend in shorts is sweating while you reach for a fleece.

Real NOAA normals, fog hours, rainfall by elevation, Sunset Zones, USDA hardiness. Marin gets the deepest treatment first — Mt Tam fog belt vs Novato heat vs Stinson cool — then the other five counties at the same depth.

Right now · same-day temperature spread
Marin — coast vs valley
Pt Reyes Lighthouse63°F
Stinson Beach66°F
Mill Valley71°F
San Rafael82°F
Novato87°F
Sacramento (for context)99°F
In Marin you can drive 18 miles and lose 24°F. Pt Reyes Lighthouse stays in the 60s on the same July afternoon Sacramento clears 100°F. That's not weather — that's a microclimate.
Town Sunset USDA Jul avg high Jan avg low Rain/yr Fog hrs/yr

Data sources: NOAA Climate Normals 1991-2020 · PRISM Climate Group 800m gridded data · Sunset Western Garden Book climate zones · USDA Plant Hardiness Zones (2023 update) · METAR-derived fog hour aggregates from Pt Reyes (KPRB), Bodega Bay (KOAR), and SFO observation stations

Refresh: Climate data updates ~once a decade. We rebuild this dataset annually each fall.

Ask Matt
NorCal microclimate questions welcome