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2019 STOCKTON CALIFORNIA (KSCK) Stockton, the county seat of San Joaquin County, The summer climate in Stockton is characterized by is located near the center of the Great Central warm, dry days and relatively cool nights with Valley of California. It is on the southeast clear skies and no rainfall. Winter brings mild corner of the broad delta formed by the confluence temperatures and relatively light rains with of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers. The frequent heavy fogs. surrounding terrain is flat, irrigated farm and orchard land, near sea level, with the rivers and The annual rainfall averages about 14 inches, canals of the delta controlled by a system of with 90 percent of the precipitation falling levees. from November through April. Thunderstorms are infrequent, occurring on 3 or 4 days a year. Snow Approximately 25 miles east and northeast of is practically unknown in the Stockton area. Stockton lie the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, rising gradually to an elevation of about 1,000 In summer, temperatures exceeding 100 degrees can feet. Beyond the foothills, the mountains rise be expected on about 15 days. During these hot abruptly to the crest of the Sierra, at a distance afternoons the air is extremely dry, with relative of about 75 miles, with some peaks here exceeding humidities running generally less than 20 percent. 9,000 feet in elevation. On a few days during the Even on these hot days, however, temperatures will year, when atmospheric conditions are favorable, fall into the low 60s at night. In winter the the downslope effect of a north or northeast nighttime temperature on clear nights will fall wind can bring unseasonably dry weather to the to or slightly below freezing, and will rise in delta area, but on the whole the Sierra Nevada has the afternoon into the low 50s. little or no effect on the weather of San Joaquin County. The Sierra Nevada does affect the area, In late autumn and early winter, clear still however, to the extent that the entire economy of nights give rise to the formation of dense fogs, the Great Valley depends upon the water supplied which normally settle in during the night and burn by the melting snows in the mountains. off sometime during the day. In December and January, the so-called fog season, under stagnant To the west and southwest, the Coast Range, with atmospheric conditions the fog may last for as peaks above 2,000 feet, form a barrier separating long as 4 or 5 weeks, with only brief and the Great Valley from the marine air which temporary periods of clearing. dominates the climate of the coastal communities. Several gaps in the Coast Range in the San Francisco Bay Area, however, permit the passage inland of a sea breeze which fans out into the delta and has a moderating effect on summer heat, with the result that Stockton enjoys slightly cooler summer days than communities in the upper San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. 7