🏖️ San Diego Weather

America's most even-tempered climate

If any major U.S. city has "perfect" weather, San Diego is the usual nominee. Its Mediterranean climate, cooled and steadied by the Pacific, produces one of the smallest temperature ranges of any big American city — the difference between the average warmest and coolest months is only about 12°F (7°C). Highs hover in the upper 60s to upper 70s°F (20–26°C) for most of the year.

May Gray and June Gloom

The one knock on the weather is the late-spring marine layer. Cool ocean water beneath warmer air produces persistent low cloud that grays over the mornings of May and June before clearing to sun by afternoon. Coastal neighborhoods see far more of it than inland ones.

A long, gentle dry season

Summers are warm, dry, and sunny without the oppressive heat found just inland; ocean breezes keep the coast comfortable even when the deserts to the east are scorching. Genuine heat waves arrive only when Santa Ana winds blow offshore in autumn.

San Diego is semi-arid, collecting just 10 inches (250 mm) of rain a year, nearly all of it in winter. Long stretches can pass without a drop, making it one of the sunniest and driest large cities in the country.

The mildest climate in America

San Diego enjoys arguably the most temperate weather of any major US city — the cold California Current and steady onshore flow hold temperatures in a narrow band, with coastal highs rarely far from 70°F (21°C) in any season.

'May Gray' and 'June Gloom' bring a persistent morning marine layer in late spring, burning off to sun by afternoon. The real heat comes with autumn's Santa Ana winds, when dry desert air reverses the flow, spikes temperatures, and raises wildfire danger. Rain is scarce and falls almost entirely in winter.