Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. As of January 1, 2007, the population of Santa Rosa was approximately 157,985 residents. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont.

Santa Rosa's Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 466,891, making it the 12th largest in California and the 104th largest in the United States.

Santa Rosa has cool, wet winters and warm, mostly dry summers. Fog and low overcast sometimes moves in from the Pacific Ocean during summer nights and mornings. Average annual rainfall is 30.45 inches (773 mm), falling on 74 days annually. The wettest year was 1983 with 63.07 inches (1,602 mm) and the dryest year was 1976 with 11.38 inches (289 mm). The most rainfall in one month was 19.42 inches (493 mm) in February 1998 and the most rainfall in 24 hours was 5.23 inches (133 mm) on December 19, 1981. Measurable snowfall is rare in the lowlands, but light amounts sometimes fall in the nearby mountains.

There are an average of 28.9 days with highs of 90 °F (32 °C) or more and an average of 30.2 days with lows of 32 °F (0°) or lower. The record high was 110 °F (43 °C) on September 13, 1971, and the record low was 15 °F (−9 °C) on December 13, 1932.

Santa Rosa can be seen as divided into four quadrants: Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest. Highway 101 runs roughly north and south through the city, and divides it into east and west sides. State Highway 12 runs roughly east and west, and divides the city into north and south sides.