The  has a variety of landscapes within a quick driving distance.  If weather conditions are right, or wrong depending on what you like to see, it is possible to drive a snowy mountain  road to Capitola, a coastal town only 25 miles away.  The mountains, the Coastal Range,  reach an altitude of around 2500 feet which is high enough to receive snow when the weather get cold enough.  The scene below  is a scene in the higher altitudes to the east of San Jose.  Normally the temperate doesn't stay that cold for long and they snow melts after two or three days.