You will see a lot of posts from Sacramento on this blog so maybe it's a good time to learn a little bit about this city.
From Wikipedia:
Sacramento is the capital city
of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the
confluence of the Sacramento
River and the American
River in the northern
portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of
470,956 at the 2012 Dept. of Finance Report, it is the sixth-largest city in California.
Sacramento is the core cultural and economic center of the Sacramento metropolitan area which includes seven counties; with an
estimated population of 2,527,123. Its
metropolitan area is the fourth largest in California after the Greater Los Angeles Area, San Francisco Bay Area, and the San Diego metropolitan area as well as the 22nd largest in the United States.
Sacramento was cited by Time magazine as America's most ethnically
and racially integrated city in 2002.
Sacramento
became a city through the efforts of the Swiss immigrant John Sutter,
Sr., his son John Sutter, Jr., and James W.
Marshall. Sacramento grew quickly thanks to the protection of Sutter's Fort,
which was established by Sutter in 1839. During the California Gold Rush, Sacramento was a
major distribution point, a commercial and agricultural center, and a terminus
for wagon trains, stagecoaches,
riverboats,
the telegraph,
the Pony Express,
and the First Transcontinental Railroad.
Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto is
the 20th largest Media Market in the United States.
The Greater
Sacramento area, or
officially Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Yuba
City, CA-NV Combined Statistical Area, is a combined statistical area consisting of several metropolitan statistical areas and seven counties in Northern California and one in Western
Nevada. These are Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Yuba,
and Nevada counties in California, and Douglas County in Nevada. Recently it
has been one of the fastest growing regions in the United States as Sacramento
continues to emerge as a distinct metropolitan center in the United States as
well as having cheaper housing for commuters from and to the nearby, more
expensive, San Francisco Bay Area. The metropolitan
area experienced a growth of nearly 20% in the last decade. In the 2000 census, the Sacramento MSA had a
population of 1,930,857 (though a July 1, 2009 estimate placed the population
at 2,458,355). The 2010 United States Census estimates for the region totaled a
population of 2,461,780, making it the 4th largest metropolitan region in California and 18th largest in the
United States.
It
lies in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada regions of California as well as a
small region of Western Nevada. Greater Sacramento is anchored by Sacramento,
the political center of California, the nation's wealthiest and most
populous state with the largest number of representatives in the U.S. government,
home of the California State Capitol and the secondary location of Supreme Court of California and was the original terminus for the First Transcontinental Railroad. Greater
Sacramento also contains sites of natural beauty including Lake Tahoe,
the largest alpine lake in North America and numerous ski and nature resorts.
It is also located in one of the world's most important agricultural areas. The
region's eastern counties are located in Gold Country,
site of the California Gold Rush.
Sacramento has a Mediterranean climate, characterized by
damp to wet, mild winters and hot, dry summers. The wet season is generally
October through April, though there may be a day or two of light rainfall in
June or September. The mean annual temperature is 61.1 °F (16.2 °C), with monthly
means ranging from 45.8 °F (7.7 °C) in December to 75.4 °F (24.1 °C) in July. Summer heat is often
moderated by a sea breeze known as the "delta breeze" which comes
through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from the San Francisco
Bay.
On
average, 96 days in the year experience some degree of fog, which usually
occurs in the morning (tule fog). The foggiest months are December and January. Tule
fog can be extremely dense, lowering visibility to less than 100 feet
(30 m) and making driving conditions extremely hazardous. Chilling tule
fog events have been known to last for several consecutive days or weeks.
During Tule fog events, temperatures do not exceed 50 degrees.
Snowfall
is exceptionally rare in Sacramento, which is only 25 feet (7.6 m) above
sea level; at least once a year during the winter months, snowflakes are
reported but rarely become heavy or stick to the ground. The all-time record
snowfall was 3.5 inches (9 cm), which occurred on January 4, 1888.
Dustings occur every 5–10 years, with up to an inch accumulation in outlying
areas. During especially cold winter and spring storms, intense showers do
occasionally produce a significant amount of hail, which can create hazardous
driving conditions. Significant snow accumulations occur each year in the
foothills located 40 miles (64 km) east of the city. Sacramento had a
brief snowfall on January 28, 2002. Snow accumulation happened on December 7,
2009.
Sacramento has
been noted as being the sunniest location on the planet for four months each
year, from June through September. It also holds the distinction as the sunniest
month of any location in the world; July in Sacramento averages 14 hours and 12
minutes of sunshine per day, amounting to approximately 98% of possible
sunshine.
