Dressing for the weather next month

Thanks everyone so far, great ideas. Ekc, RF is in WI. We have mostly mixes of humid and zero humid summer days, very up and down. Good idea about the light sweater and a scarf, that will do it for me probably!!

Lyn, I grew up in Wisconsin (Go Pack Go!) and now live in Seattle (same weather as Portland). Here in the Pacific NW it's much more temperate/cooler and far less humid than in the midwest and Wisconsin. So what feels warm to people like EKC and me will actually feel comfortable or even a bit cool to someone who lives in your neck of the woods. Case in point, I absolutely fry when I go back to the midwest, even during a 'normal' summer day and my family generally freezes here, even when they visit in July. So I'd suggest you pack a few more warm pieces of clothing (sweater, light jacket) than EKC suggests. Likewise, we'll be in the same parts of Italy at the same time (Sept 1- 24) and I plan on bringing mostly lightweight, hot weather clothing because I'm simply not used to anything over 70 degrees or any kind of humidity.

A couple of weeks before I leave on a trip, I check weather.com (enter the cities where you'll be) every day to see what the actual weather will be like as close to my arrival as possible. Average temperatures and past weather will give you a basic idea but cannot tell you what the weather will do now. I've been in northern Germany 3 times in July and August and once it was so cool we needed sweaters, once it was a little warm (maybe in the lower 80s) and last year it was in the mid 90s every day for a couple of weeks. The average temperature is in the mid-to-upper 70s but packing based on the average would have done me no good.

A sweater or fleece should suffice during that time.

Not sure where River Falls is, but coming from Portland, Oregon I have rarely needed anything more than a light sweater in Italy (both north and south) in September and even October. And my very light sweater was a little too cool in the evening, then I just bought a beautiful scarf to wear from a street vendor.

Haha, Bob--thanks for that additional advice! I know my husband will want extra warmth, he's always cooler than I am and I also don't want to be trying to buy a jacket for me over there. I appreciate everyone's help so much, since this is our first time. Traveled/lived in Poland a year but never been to Italy.

I'll be in Italy at the same time as Bob and I'll stick with hot weather clothes and a packable lightweight microfibre jacket that, with luck, I'll not have to wear; but, vaguely analogous to Woody Allen's "While I do not believe in an afterlife, I am bringing a change of underwear", I'll stick one of those tiny umbrellas somewhere in my kit (it's better to have it and not need it, etc).

We'll be in Italy early September also, and mostly in Tuscany. This will be our first trip to Italy, but when looking at temperature/humidity on line, weather appears to be similar to Northern California (lots of vineyards in both locations). Evenings in September will be in the 50's or low 60's and highs in 70's and 80's and not particularily humid. So to put reality into perspective, it's 60 degrees at home right now, and 50% humidity (but doeesn't feel humid). I'm in shorts and a t-shirt and the sliders were open, but I closed them about an hour ago as the temperature dropped. We went for a walk this evening and wore a sweatshirt. Fleece would be a bit too warm. So based on the similar climates, I'll bring 1 zip-up sweatshirt (so I can zip or keep open) and a very lightweight windbreaker in case of rain or if I need another layer over my sweatshirt.
For those of you that have travelled to both Tuscany and Northern California (Napa/Sonoma), can you please confirm if my weather analogy is accurate?

The California Current is a river of cold ocean water flowing southward from BC to Baja and it is just offshore of Marin. In the summer, the Central Valley gets hot and the hot air rises to create low pressure in late afternoon. The Central Valley low pressure sucks in a layer of fog and cool air that forms over the California Current. The fog flows through gaps in the Coastal Range such as the Petaluma Cut, the Russian River Valley and the Golden Gate, up into Carneros and then up into the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. This makes for foggy nights and happy grapes. As far as I know, the Tyrrhenian does not have a significant current of cold water just offshore, and it does not have a large low pressure area to suck in cold moist ocean air, even if there were any. Even if these phenomena occur, the area does not have the same dramatic cool down that we have in the Bay Area (90+ to 55+ in a few hours)

Looks like we should all wear nametags over there so we can find each other--"Bob, CA", etc :) Interesting discussion and also what I was wondering. Humidity has such an effect on how the temp feels here in WI. So do I understand that because of the lack of a similar strong CA ocean current offshore, that Tuscany will be warm and humid in a few weeks?

Lyn, you might pack a lightweight wind breaker in case of rain. We were in Italy the same time frame as you but in 2009 & we (unfortunately) ran into rain in the CT. And, when I say rain, I mean RAIN; it poured hard!! Luckily I brought a jacket with a hood & I sure used it for those 2 days in the CT. The rain came in sideways and we were soaked even in spite of umbrellas. So, you might consider the possibility of rain when packing. Aside from the rain, I was fine with a lightweight sweater for the rest of the trip. Have a wonderful trip.